Bad News, Wrong Man. Patient’s Prostate Removed by Mistake.

Medical Justice provides consultations to doctors facing medico-legal obstacles. We have solutions for doctor-patient conflicts, unwarranted demands for refunds, online defamation (patient review mischief), meritless litigation, and a gazillion other issues. We also provide counsel specific to COVID-19. If you are navigating a medico-legal obstacle, visit our booking page to schedule a consultation – or use the tool shared below.

Eric Spang, of Mohnton, PA, underwent a routine prostate examination in late-2020. His blood test revealed elevated levels of a prostate-specific antigen (PSA).

This sometimes indicates the presence of prostate cancer. He underwent a biopsy to confirm. When his biopsy came back positive, Mr. Spang and his wife discussed his options with his doctor. After seeking a second opinion with another doctor in the practice, surgeons removed Mr. Spang’s prostate (radical laparoscopic prostatectomy), believing the procedure would ultimately save his life. Surgery took place in January 2021. It wasn’t until the procedure concluded that the surgeons realized the mistake. Mr. Spang did not have prostate cancer.  

Mr. Spang is 48 years old, married, and the father of 5 children.  

To state the obvious, this was not good. (Yes, it WAS good the patient had no cancer. It was NOT good that he now had no prostate and there were surgical complications.) 

The error occurred during the preparation and reading of Mr. Spang’s biopsy. The technicians prepared Mr. Spang’s NEGATIVE test result alongside another patient’s POSITIVE test result. The slides and their reports were shuffled. Slides were labeled with names correctly. Reports were generated for the wrong patients.  

A malpractice suit was filed against the oncology group that performed the biopsy. The company that supplied the lab personnel has also been named in the suit.  

Mr. Spang lives with urinary leakage and erectile dysfunction, among other complications. He and his family are devastated.  

Not to pile on, but there’s another patient in the crosshairs to consider.  

In this case, the problem wasn’t an “inaccurate diagnosis” so much as it was delivering the wrong diagnosis to the wrong patient. The other guy was told he was cancer-free. Under most circumstances, a cause for celebration. Someone must now break the news to this man that he does, in fact, have cancer. Hopefully, this news was broken to the patient quickly so he could evaluate his treatment options BEFORE the disease spread.  

An awful outcome for all parties. Discussing these unfortunate cases at length reminds us to exercise caution when preparing these materials and delivering news (good or bad) to our patients.  

This could happen to ANY of us. If you think only “bad doctors” make these mistakes, think again. We referenced the example below in a previous article.  

Not too long ago, in the New England Journal of Medicine, a hand surgeon at Mass General Hospital, Harvard’s teaching hospital, described operating on the wrong side – an obvious mistake. He described how it happened and how to prevent this from happening again. This should be required reading for all physicians. Ring DC, Herndon JH, Meyer GS. Case 34-2010: A 65-Year-Old Woman with an Incorrect Operation of the Left Hand. N Engl J Med 2010; 363: 1950-7.  

In a similar case, a male patient lost both testicles following a wrong-sided varicocelectomy. 

Once a surgeon operates on the wrong side or mistakenly removes a healthy organ, that surgeon will never make that mistake again. The public will beat him up. His colleagues will beat him up. But no one will beat the surgeon harder than the surgeon himself.  

The best ways to prevent such errors are obvious. Check and double-check the patient, the side, and the level. Double-check the slides. Stop and take a break (time out). Make sure everyone in the room is empowered to speak if they believe there’s been a mistake.  

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.

Medical Justice provides consultations to doctors facing medico-legal obstacles. We have solutions for doctor-patient conflicts, unwarranted demands for refunds, online defamation (patient review mischief), meritless litigation, and a gazillion other issues. We also provide counsel specific to COVID-19. If you are navigating a medico-legal obstacle, visit our booking page to schedule a consultation – or use the tool shared below.

Learn how Medical Justice can protect you from medico-legal mayhem… 

Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD

Chief Executive Officer and Founder

Dr. Jeffrey Segal, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Medical Justice, is a board-certified neurosurgeon. Dr. Segal is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons; the American College of Legal Medicine; and the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. He is also a member of the North American Spine Society. In the process of conceiving, funding, developing, and growing Medical Justice, Dr. Segal has established himself as one of the country’s leading authorities on medical malpractice issues, counterclaims, and internet-based assaults on reputation.

Dr. Segal was a practicing neurosurgeon for approximately ten years, during which time he also played an active role as a participant on various state-sanctioned medical review panels designed to decrease the incidence of meritless medical malpractice cases.

Dr. Segal holds a M.D. from Baylor College of Medicine, where he also completed a neurosurgical residency. Dr. Segal served as a Spinal Surgery Fellow at The University of South Florida Medical School. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa as well as the AOA Medical Honor Society. Dr. Segal received his B.A. from the University of Texas and graduated with a J.D. from Concord Law School with highest honors.

In 2000, he co-founded and served as CEO of DarPharma, Inc, a biotechnology company in Chapel Hill, NC, focused on the discovery and development of first-of-class pharmaceuticals for neuropsychiatric disorders.

Dr. Segal is also a partner at Byrd Adatto, a national business and health care law firm. Byrd Adatto was selected as a Best Law Firm in the 2021 edition of the “Best Law Firms” list by U.S. News – Best Lawyers. With decades of combined experience in serving doctors, dentists, and other providers, Byrd Adatto has a national pedigree to address most legal issues that arise in the business and practice of medicine.