Florida surgeon charged with killing man after removing liver instead of spleen
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A surgeon who will make a fatal error like that is likely to have made several less serious errors before, it may simply not be reported on - especially in cases where the surgeon is facing charges.
One interesting thing is part of the reason that we learn about all the weird shit in Florida is because of Florida's especially firm approach to public access to records.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOxCU3wY3kA
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Maybe he figured "Insurance signed off on spleen removal so thats gotta happen"
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Assuming that he was this incompetent on the day he graduated. But also reminds me of the joke, "What do you call someone who graduated last in their med school class"? Answer: Doctor.
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This is a nightmare of mine, having someone totally incompetent cutting into me on a surgeon table. Put in some creepy organ grinder music while carnival performers dance in the background and an audience dressed in Elizabethan era garb while laughing at the scene unfolding and you have the full form of that nightmare.
Isn't there a line between the doctor doing diagnosis and the doctor actually performing surgery? Just to summarize, the man insisted on the surgery and advised against getting a second opinion. Then, he cut the man open and changed his whole approach due to a distended... bit of gut... Then, he cuts open one of the most important veins in the body, KILLING him. Then, THEN, after killing him, he does the "surgery", blind, and cuts out the wrong organ, which he keeps insisting is the right one. I'm presuming he knew already he'd got the wrong one after the fact but refused to admit it as a defense of some sort.
The fact he went ahead and cut out that organ while the man was going into arrest from severe blood loss is incredibly damning. He had a menu order he was completing. He wanted to make sure THAT at least was done while the corpse was still warm. "See? I did the thing!" A sort of... professional stubbornness I suppose? In any event, it wasn't doing him any good. Frankly, it couldn't have gone worse if they'd just shoved a rabid tazmanian devil in his abdomen and sealed it up in there.
I know I'm making light of a grizzly and morbid situation, but it's the only way I can handle this. I'm just grateful Beth didn't include photos this time.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-QiLHdsNN8
(Youtube changed their UI overlay on videos again, now dotting different buttons all over the "frame" of the video rather than having it all conveniently laid out along the bottom. Just how does this improve the experience?)
Isn't there a line between the doctor doing diagnosis and the doctor actually performing surgery? Just to summarize, the man insisted on the surgery and advised against getting a second opinion. Then, he cut the man open and changed his whole approach due to a distended... bit of gut... Then, he cuts open one of the most important veins in the body, KILLING him. Then, THEN, after killing him, he does the "surgery", blind, and cuts out the wrong organ, which he keeps insisting is the right one. I'm presuming he knew already he'd got the wrong one after the fact but refused to admit it as a defense of some sort.
The fact he went ahead and cut out that organ while the man was going into arrest from severe blood loss is incredibly damning. He had a menu order he was completing. He wanted to make sure THAT at least was done while the corpse was still warm. "See? I did the thing!" A sort of... professional stubbornness I suppose? In any event, it wasn't doing him any good. Frankly, it couldn't have gone worse if they'd just shoved a rabid tazmanian devil in his abdomen and sealed it up in there.
I know I'm making light of a grizzly and morbid situation, but it's the only way I can handle this. I'm just grateful Beth didn't include photos this time.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-QiLHdsNN8
(Youtube changed their UI overlay on videos again, now dotting different buttons all over the "frame" of the video rather than having it all conveniently laid out along the bottom. Just how does this improve the experience?)
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Stories like this.. I had to have serious jaw surgery due to Osteoradionecrosis ( radiation therepy side effect) When they could not get my BP under control and with other issues they decided to keep me overnight.
I was sent to the floor where the big sign over the ward door said that they salute all organ donors.
I did not find out until the next day it was only because they had no other available rooms.
Needless to say, I did not sleep at all that night
edit: speeeeling
I was sent to the floor where the big sign over the ward door said that they salute all organ donors.
I did not find out until the next day it was only because they had no other available rooms.
Needless to say, I did not sleep at all that night
edit: speeeeling
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Osteopathic medicine means something different in the US, as noted at the top of the page you linked:
The upshot of it is, DOs in the US get a full MD training in addition to the Osteopathic training, and many never even use the Osteopathic practices once they graduate. It's a weird legacy thing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_of_Osteopathic_Medicine
None of that is to defend this quack, who is clearly incompetent at every discipline.
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What I don't understand with these botched surgeries, aren't there others in the room that can say, 'Hey doc, that's not his spleen...'
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So you're a fan of sweeping generalizations against an entire sex of people? How would you feel if something like this was said about women?
Shame on you.
I can't believe this kind of sweeping generalized insult is tolerated--even upvoted--here. What's popular isn't always right.
[Edit: removed accidental hypocritical sweeping generalization of my own.]
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Funny, but still just as dumb as the last 1000 times it was posted. You could raise the graduation requirements 100% and there would always be someone last in their class. Doesnt mean they are incompetent. In this case maybe, but its not even close to a general rule. In general the graduation requirements are set so even the last in class has shown they are competent to be a doctor.
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i get that the liver can look vastly different based on someone's relative health but a liver and a spleen are vastly different organs in completely different parts of your body
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At that moment, the abdominal cavity was filling up with blood from the massive hemorrhage caused by the doctor severing the inferior vena cava. Not only could nobody see what organ he was fishing around for with all of that blood, the rest of the staff was rather busy trying to save the man's life.
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Maybe the surgeon who put his initials on patients’ livers can help?
https://meincmagazine.com/science/201...lty-to-burning-initials-into-patients-organs/
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"State Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo ordered an emergency suspension of Shaknovsky’s license "
The irony... He'll probably be responsible dor 100x to a 1000x more unnecessary deaths, in the end, than the guy he suspended.
The irony... He'll probably be responsible dor 100x to a 1000x more unnecessary deaths, in the end, than the guy he suspended.
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Sounds like a Cartel doctor out to harvest organs. I don't think most people need any medical training to know the difference between a liver and a spleen. It was the target all along.
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Homogeneously unqualified to practice medicine in any capacity?
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Cat_Herder
Wise, Aged Ars Veteran
Doctor Shaknovsky must have been inspired by this song, in a "hold my beer" moment:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnvoM1ACsrA
This song parody is about another surgery screw-up in Florida.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnvoM1ACsrA
This song parody is about another surgery screw-up in Florida.
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I'm pretty sure that some variant of that is standard practice. When I had surgery on one of my fingers (be careful with knives, cutting a tendon sucks) my surgeon marked the finger and even the joint he was going to be working on with my confirmation.
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You mean renown State Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo knows anatomy?
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It’s not really surprising, the chaotic description of how it went down probably got him enough he couldn’t convince himself it couldn’t happen to him.
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BlueEyedDevil
Smack-Fu Master, in training
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I wonder how many other people died in this guys “care” due to botches that weren’t flagrant, in your face, screw ups?
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Too soon! But yes, call 911 tell the police you just witnessed manslaughter, or intercept the coroner.
Who's "dragging" the anesthesiologist? I think it's a fair question to ask.
As other's have stated this surgery shouldn't have happened with a skeleton crew.
While it is possible that this was the best surgeon in the world with a really really bad day. I feel like there were a lot of other clues. You don't just remove a spleen and bring back a liver?
Did he make the correct marking on the patient? How was the pre-op briefing? etc etc.
This ^(two things can be true). Someone should have said something, but there are also hierarchy issues. Everything has to be questioned.
Bottom line is that if this had happened to my husband, I would look at everyone for liability.
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A question for the DA. For my part, that way madness lies.
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The actors on HBO's The Pitt would have conducted better surgery than this guy apparently. That was a dark read, poor unfortunate dude should of stuck with gut in choosing better facilities, i'm gonna read this as a lesson to myself.
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The five fundamental laws of stupidity :
- Always and inevitably, everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.
- The probability that a certain person (will) be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.
- A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses.
- Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular, non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places, and under any circumstances, to deal and/or associate with stupid people always turns out to be a costly mistake.
- A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person.
-- Carlo Cipolla, "The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity" ("Le leggi fondamentali della stupidità umana", 1976)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_M._Cipolla#"The_Basic_Laws_of_Human_Stupidity"_(1976)
https://psychology-spot.com/basic-laws-of-human-stupidity/
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'He reported afterward that the adrenal gland had “migrated.”'
Did it teleport to a Waffle House?
Did it teleport to a Waffle House?
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Quibble: How do we know this happened twice?
The reported previous incident was that Shaknovsky removed a part of the patients pancreas (was attempting to remove an adrenal gland) and doesn'ta claim mention that the patient in that incident died.
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Aside:
I don't know if it's true anymore, but there used to be a story to the effect that in early in med school, the class full of hopeful new students would be told that each of them would likely kill three patients on the way to becoming a fully qualified/certified medical doctor.
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"Ohhh boy another adrenal gland... these things are just the worst! Well, fingers crossed, here I go!"
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I believe they were referring to the same doctor removing the wrong organ twice, not both patients dying.
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