Man Sues Doctor Who Left Surgery to Cash Check BOSTON (Reuters) - A Massachusetts man filed a malpractice lawsuit on Wednesday against the doctor who left him on the operating table midway through spinal surgery to cash a check at a nearby bank. Charles Algeri said he suffers severe pain in his right leg after orthopedic surgeon David Arndt left him for 35 minutes with an open incision in his back during a spinal fusion procedure at a Boston-area hospital. Algeri's lawyer filed the lawsuit in Suffolk County Superior Court in Boston. Arndt, whose license to practice medicine was suspended by the state medical board, has acknowledged that he temporarily abandoned Algeri in the operating room during the July 10 operation at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The doctor admitted to a medical board investigator that he had "exercised remarkably horrible judgment" during the surgery, according to a board report released in August. Arndt explained to the investigator he had been waiting for his paycheck because he had to pay some overdue bills, and had been hoping to finish the surgery before his bank closed for the day. The procedure took longer than he expected, however, and Arndt decided to make a break for the bank midway through surgery. Algeri, a Waltham, Massachusetts, resident, opted for the surgery to relieve pain he had been feeling in his left leg and left lower back. "All of his problems were on his left side. Now he has problems on both sides but much worse on the right side," said Algeri's lawyer, Marc Breakstone. Algeri is seeking unspecified damages from Arndt, claiming the pain is a result of the doctor's negligence. Breakstone noted that the doctor has $5 million in insurance coverage that could apply to the case. "He's got $5 million in coverage and the case is worth at least that much," the lawyer told Reuters. Arndt's lawyer was not immediately available for comment.
The article is dated today, Dec. 5th. Something like this may have happened before. Is it any wonder Doctor's malpractice insurance is going up (especially in Pennsylvania) forcing doctors to move out of states that have high insurance rates.
You know, we probably wouldn't see such huge judgments and settlements (thus inspiring the cries for tort reform) if the damn AMA had shown any inclination in the past to discipline these kinds of incompetent idiots. In any case, I hope this guy gets taken to the cleaners. Ironic how trying to get a check in the bank is going to end up costing him money.
He probably banks at Washington Mutual where they hold like half your balance for 2 weeks while you're a new customer.
Same here. I thought I've read this in the past. ** EDIT ** : Yup... it happened in July (I just re-read the article above and the link below). He's just now suing... I knew it seemed too deja vu'ish. http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/world/story/0,4386,159130,00.html
Why do people holler "tort reform!!" when they read something like this? If anyone is deserving of a large settlement, it's this guy. I've had back surgery myself, and I'm still in pain, so I can relate to the poor smuck. I didn't sue my surgeon. I DID sue the guy that ran the red light that CAUSED my back injury. I didn't get squat. Thank you, tort reform. That doctor should be in jail. If you want "reform", jail criminally negligent doctors. They get off with a slap on the wrist and higher insurance rates. If they're REALLY bad they have to go practice in another state. Woo. Big deal.
