Nuerosurgury errors force resignation in Rhode Island Hospital.

Nuerosurgeons usually deal with real medicine, but every so often they get confused when they speak with psychiatrists. This is one of the more reasonable explanations for this reported series of mistakes at a hospital in Rhode Island. As reported in The Day

The head of the neurosurgery department at Rhode Island Hospital has stepped aside while officials investigate three incidents in which surgeons operated on the wrong side of a patient's head.

John Duncan will still see patients but will not run the department, Gail Carvelli, a spokeswoman for the hospital's parent company, Lifespan, said Thursday.

“He has voluntarily stepped aside during this investigative process,” she said.

Since February, three different brain surgeons at the hospital have operated on the wrong side of a patient's head, most recently on Friday. In two cases, the doctors did not realize the errors until after they opened the skull. On Friday, the doctor realized the problem after he made an incision in the scalp.

An elderly man died in August a few weeks after a surgeon mistakenly operated on the wrong side of his head. David Gifford, head of the state Department of Health, said an autopsy was pending, but the department believes his death was not connected to the surgery.

In the other two cases, the patients were OK, the department has said.

The hospital this week was fined $50,000, reprimanded and ordered to make a series of changes including better training and more safeguards.

Rhode Island Hospital is the largest hospital in the state and serves as the teaching hospital for Brown University's Alpert Medical School. It is a private, not-for-profit hospital and performs more than 25,000 surgeries every year, according to its Web site

Mental Hospital to Get Overhaul After Federal Funds Cut Off

Finally, an action that almost makes sense. Federal funds have been removed from a hospital that has a horrific track record in patient care. After all why should we reward the place with extra money if they have a track record of screwing it up? As seen in this report.

Broughton Hospital will be reorganized to increase staff supervision and patient safety after the federal government cut off funding for the mental health hospital, state health officials announced on Monday.

Health officials hope the reorganization will turn convince the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to begin paying coverage for Broughton patients again. CMS cut off the funds on Aug. 25 after a probe into patient treatment at the Morganton facility.

"We cannot emphasize enough how seriously we take this matter, as well as our expectations that the prescribed actions are immediately undertaken to resolve the identified deficiencies," state health secretary Dempsey Benton and Mike Moseley, director of the state's mental health division, wrote in a memo to Broughton director Seth Hunt.

Federal funds were denied after two incidents involving patients.

In February, Anthony Lowery, 27, died while staff members, including one who laid across his chest, restrained him. On August 19, a patient who was supposed to be under close supervision fell. That patient has recovered.

Broughton will now give staffers more training on how to use physical restraints and how to prevent falls, said Dr. Michael Lassiter, psychiatrist who lead the review.

Supervision of clinical staff by clinical professionals will also be increased. Prior to the review, the lack of oversight meant nursing staff members did not report to the director of nursing, Lassiter said.

"The organization needs to be realigned, so that it is clear that the clinical team is supervised by professional staff that understands the role of clinical staff," Lassiter said. "We need to set up an organizational structure that empowers and enhances physicians' and nurses' oversight and accountability functions for clinical services."

Lassiter will lead the three-member reorganization team of nursing and administrative experts, which will report weekly to state health officials.

The team will conduct a mock CMS survey after the review, which is expected to last a month, and then request CMS look over the hospital's plan of correction.

I wonder what odds we should put on them getting their act together?

Rhode Island Suspends License of Psychiatrist

Reported by the Boston Globe

A Providence, Rhode Island psychiatrist has been suspended by the state for allegedly prescribing a narcotic to his wife and then trying to deceive state investigators.

Doctor Lorin Mimless will lose his license to practice medicine for at least a year.

Doctor Robert Crausman, chief administrative officer of the state Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline, says Mimless' prescription to his wife was ethically questionable but the main reason for the suspension is that Mimless lied to the board and fabricated medical records.

Mimless' lawyer says no patients were ever put in danger by his client's actions.

The American Medical Association's ethics guidelines prohibit a doctor from prescribing medication to relatives except in emergencies. The state ruled that the Mimless' care of his wife violated accepted practice in psychiatry.

Investigating a Psychiatric Hospital After Child's Suicide

Authorities are investigating a Champaign, Illinois psychiatric hospital where a 12-year-old hanged himself last week, about two months after he was taken into protective custody because welfare officials feared for his safety at home. The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is looking into whether The Pavilion properly monitored Ronald Hamilton of Bloomington, Ill., who was under a suicide watch when he hanged himself with bed linen on Aug. 11. He died four days later after being removed from life support.

Convicted Psych Loses Appeal

Convicted Fall River psychiatrist Kennard C. Kobrin of Barrington, Rhode Island has lost an appeal for a stay of sentence. He was convicted in December of illegally prescribing the tranquilizer Klonopin and defrauding the state Medicaid system