Docs 'used our kid as guinea pig,' says new suit against North Shore University brain surgeons

[BlueJessamine]

Source: New York Daily News

Two embattled Long Island brain surgeons were slapped with three more malpractice suits Thursday, including one involving a 5-year-old child who has developed crushing leg pain and fatigue.

The suits, filed in Long Island federal court, say North Shore University Hospital's top docs, Thomas Milhorat and Paolo Bolognese, operated for money - not medicine - and did experimental surgery without telling the patients.

"They injured our child," said Natalie Holden's heartbroken parents, Janet and Noel Holden of Sunnyvale, Calif., who described nights of her waking, crying out with leg and head pain. "They used her and many others as a guinea pig for their little surgical theory."

Noel Holden, 50, who works for a division of Johnson & Johnson, added: "As one who has worked in the medical field, it's the most morally reprehensible thing I can imagine."




Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/07/17/2009-07-17_docs_used_our_kid_as_guinea_pig_says_new_suit_against_long_island_brain_surgeons.html

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Chiari malformation is a condition in which brain tissue protrudes into the spinal canal, causing severe headaches, dizziness and many other debilitating symptoms.

Most mainstream neurosurgeons don't recognize the controversial tethered cord operation, performed on hundreds of patients at North Shore's Chiari Institute, as a cure for the brain defect.

[intaglio]

1. Sounds like the 2 Drs thought "Surgeon as Hero"

was more than a phase of primitive surgical treatment.

Humans ain't Lab rats.

[northernlights]

2. I'd want to hear the other side's version

Did the parents not get 2nd and 3rd opinions on brain surgery for their child? Who already had serious medical issues? Not all surgery works as hoped or planned...especially cutting edge techniques. And for non-routine surgery I wouldn't want one surgeon to just step-in for another...especially without prior notice and preparation.

And for the surgery where the surgeon was out of state -- was there some sort of scheduling screw-up?

Isn't NY Daily News kind of a sensationalist Murdoch-style rag? This story seems very one-sided to me.

[Wilms]

4. I can answer one of those questions.

The NY Daily News is kind of a sensationalist Murdoch-style rag.

[pattmarty]

3. This is why we need tort reform.

:sarcasm:

[hedgehog]

5. Whatever is going on here, it illustrates the need for better oversight

of both procedures and charges. $10 million a year? Even if the surgeon was in the office or operating room 40 hours a week, and even if he only took $1 million after expenses, that's $500 an hour.