The Doc Must Have Had Other Things On His Mind

[Henry]

And you sometimes think you have had a bad day??

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - A doctor performing arthroscopic surgery at The Miriam Hospital Friday morning conducted the procedure on the wrong knee. Now, the Rhode Island Department of Health is investigating.

The mistake was first noticed by the patient when she regained consciousness. The hospital then performed the surgery on the correct knee, which had been marked prior to the initial operation.

"The hospital notified us today, and we immediately sent someone out to start the investigation, which will go on for a few days," said Helen Drew, a spokeswoman with the Health Department.

Drew also said the patient is doing well.

I remember when my daughter had surgery on her knee, they came in with a black marks-a-lot and did a great job of identifying which knee was not to be operated on.  Of course I have also heard that in some cases a completely different operation had been performed on the wrong person.

It could have been worse I guess, but thank God it wasn't an amputation.