Wrong side for amputation(loss of license)

[Beldar_the_Cenobite]

I forgot who told me this story but they said that there was a story about an RN, who federally, lost their license after writing down the wrong side of the leg for the surgeons to amputate. The leg that wasn't supposed to get amputated was removed as well as the one that was supposed to. Huge lawsuit, RN lost their license nationwide. Is this true? Is it possible? I think she basically cannot ever work as an RN anywhere ever again. I just want to hear from the experts how serious this can get. My mom once told me, she's not an RN or doctor or any of that, that doctors are recommended to carry a special insurance for lawsuits that range from 1-2 million dollars in possible losses. I think I saw somewhere that nurses carry that as well?

[Rocknurse, MSN, APRN, NP]

Something like this happened just last week!

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/10/health/kidney-removed-from-wrong-patient/

[NurseCard, ADN]

The story is true. I worked with that dear nurse. She did lose her license, and now spends her days playing the piano in a seedy nightclub in Reno.

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

Patient Safety Network:

Wrong-Site, Wrong-Procedure, and Wrong-Patient Surgery | AH

[h=3]Doing the Right Things to Correct Wrong-Site Surgery - Pennsylvania[/h]

[Apple-Core, ASN, BSN, RN]

If you've got nothing nice to say, then don't say nothing at all. Simple. Easy. Common sense. If this post wasn't worth your time explaining to, other than expressing your feelings about the logic behind the OP past posts, withhold your negative judgement and frolic onto another post that you would feel is more intellectual and worthy of your time. Thank you.

Atomic Stig, on Sep 6th 2016, you wrote:

" I sent her friend a tense email with a lot of name calling"

[AliNajaCat]

Can someone tell me how to block out a person that you don't want to see their postings anymore?

Oooh, I asked the same thing recently. You click on your name in the upper right corner, go to the DASHBOARD dropdown menu, choose Account Options, and pick the Ignore option. Enter the name and BINGO! You will never see him/her again. Well, you will see it when somebody quotes him/her, that can't be helped.

[AliNajaCat]

Oh silly me, and I thought the side was top or bottom.

Inside?

Outside?

[la_chica_suerte85, BSN, RN]

When I had a discectomy/laminectomy done, the physician asked me to state what side. I just kind of said "Uh...leftish?"

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

Just to settle a little discussion.....There was a certain hospital (somewhere in Florida) that hit the newspapers for amputating the wrong leg of a patient. As horrifying as that is, there are a few details that did not make the news (probably because the truth is not useful fear mongering material.) For starters, the gentleman in question needed both legs amputated. Now that certainly does not make it any better, but does set the scene in part as to how this could have happened. The gentleman ultimately wound up having the other limb amputated. The family sued (as is appropriate) and by the time they settled, the gentleman had passed away from complications of diabetes. As is normal for any lawsuit, the blame net is cast far and wide in the hopes of gleaning some useful information. Likely the original suit was against every. single. name. that appears in the chart. Most are thrown out.

As far as I know this was the hallmark case that led to the development of the "time out" procedure along with all of the rigmarole that goes with preparing a surgical patient. As I recall, no one person (including the surgeon) was cited in this tragedy. You've got to realize, besides the surgeon, there are numerous people (multiple nurses, techs, surgeons, etc.) that are involved. To be laying all the blame on one nurse is utterly ridiculous. Newsflash- doctors are not God. That is why there is malpractice insurance. And yes as another said, carry your own, it is not that expensive.

That being said, this was still a horrible tragedy, but it has changed procedure in the operating room to lessen the chances of it happening again. That does not mitigate what this patient and his family went through but, if anything good at all were to come out of it, the time out process is it.

As others above have said, this has entered the realm of urban legend, even though the reality of it's possible occurrence is way more probable then the Oranjello.Lemonjello twins. And last but not least, OP- stop listening to gossip.

The surgeon needs to know which limb is being amputated and why. This is not the responsibility of the nurse.

One surgeon is wielding that knife. Doesn't he know his patient?

What gossip?

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

I once heard a nurse threw out a kidney! Oh wait, that did happen.

Seriously though, from what I understand the nurse did not loose her license although she was devastated. Multiple steps of failure were documented and now I think there are stricter rules about what to do.

So she didn't loose her license. Did she lose it?

[SmilingBluEyes]

Atomic Stig, on Sep 6th 2016, you wrote:

" I sent her friend a tense email with a lot of name calling"

woooooops.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

The surgeon needs to know which limb is being amputated and why. This is not the responsibility of the nurse.

One surgeon is wielding that knife. Doesn't he know his patient?

What gossip?

Actually, it's a team responsibility. That's why there's verification of an H&P against the surgical consent against what the patient states is being done against what is stated on the surgical schedule against what the staff in the OR have set up for against the surgeon's surgical site marking against ....

[RestlessHeart]

Ive had all kinds of surgeries....3 on a shoulder....10 on 1 knee...and the nurses all marked the spot themselves. Then just as I was being wheeled into the OR I was asked what part they'd be doing surgery on.