"Doctor dozed during surgery, report says; Beth Israel faulted in case" by Liz Kowalczyk, Globe Staff | March 25, 2009
When Dr. Loren J. Borud began his first case at about 8 a.m., an operating room nurse noticed he looked tired and wobbly. She was so concerned, according to one account of the Friday last June, that she suggested Borud postpone his next patient.
Borud said he had been up all night working on a book, but he kept operating, starting a second case, during which he briefly fell asleep, according to a report from state investigators. The nurse again called him aside and suggested "maybe he should take a break," according to her interviews with investigators, but he continued the surgery....
The operating room nurse called the plastic surgery department twice to report Borud's behavior that morning and early afternoon, the report said, and the office nurse told her to "keep an eye on him." But no senior surgeon or administrator ordered Borud to stop operating - even though there was widespread awareness of his history of drug and alcohol abuse, according to investigators.
He didn't stop working until 1:30 p.m., when a resident - a doctor in training - who was assisting him had to leave to see patients. The resident called another plastic surgeon for help because Borud wasn't on his "A game," the resident told investigators. The plastic surgeon sent a fellow, a more senior doctor in training, to assist Borud. About 10 minutes after the fellow, Dr. Eran Bar-Meir, arrived, Borud left for unexplained reasons.
The state also faulted the hospital for allowing Bar-Meir to take over patient, Michael K. Hick's operation by himself; hospital policy requires an attending surgeon be present with a fellow.
State investigators said the hospital did not treat the patient appropriately after his surgery, either. Hicks was not assessed by a physician before he was discharged that night, and hospital administrators did not tell Hicks that Borud had to abandon his operation, and why, until 10 days after the surgery. The operation lasted seven hours, rather than the 90 minutes Hicks said Borud had estimated it would take.
I would ABSOLUTELY be FLIPPING OUT at this point!!
I'd be eating this guys innards!
Last summer, the hospital fired Borud and the state temporarily suspended his license. In an initial investigation completed in September, the public health department found that Hicks's complaints were invalid. But after Hicks objected to the findings, staff reopened the investigation and interviewed additional staff as well as Hicks....
It's the SAME with EVERY INVESTIGATION -- a COVER-UP to START!!!!!!
And wait until you see this:
The Boston Herald first reported the conclusions of the state's second investigation yesterday.
Maybe I'M READING the WRONG PAPER, huh?
See: Heralding the End of the Boston Globe
The Boston Globe's Hatchet Job on the Boston Herald
Boston Globe Covers Up Israeli Ecstasy Ring
The Boston Globe is a Mouthpiece For the Jewish Mafia
A patient safety specialist said the case reveals broader issues about the culture of operating rooms and how difficult it can be to get nurses, technicians, and residents to challenge surgeons - even when they have problematic histories.
Or advisers to challenge puppet presidents.
"How common is it that nurses and other personnel don't speak up? I can't think of any [hospital] in the world where this isn't an issue," said Dr. Allan Frankel, former director of patient safety at Partners HealthCare and founder of a patient safety consulting company based in Washington, D.C. Frankel said that even in cases such as the one at Beth Israel Deaconess, where a nurse apparently did try to confront Borud, too often hospitals haven't designated a specific manager who will come in and make the final decision....
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More "good" news:
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center will lay off 140 or fewer employees, using a combination of delayed raises, a temporary reduction in benefits, and donations from department heads to avoid wider job losses.
Paul Levy, the hospital's chief executive, revealed the decision in an e-mail message to staff Monday that he posted yesterday on his blog, Running a Hospital. The move follows weeks of meetings and online discussions seeking ways to preserve many of the 600 jobs initially endangered by a $20 million budget shortfall. Like many hospitals, Beth Israel Deaconess is seeing fewer patients and lower payments from government programs....
Gee, I wonder why!
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