When you’re undergoing something as serious as an operation, you like to feel secure in the knowledge that the surgeons handling your procedure are knowledgeable, experienced, and will do a good job. However, that wasn’t the case for one Florida woman who had a totally healthy kidney removed after her surgeon mistook the organ for a tumor. While Maureen Pacheco thought she was having bones in her lower back fused together, she ended up leaving the operating theater down a vital organ, GlobalNews reports.
- Pacheco and her lawyer say there’s no reasonable excuse for this kind of “mistake.” As her lawyer, Donald J. Ward, told the Palm Beach Post: “As you can imagine, when someone goes in for a back surgery, she would never expect to wake up and be told when she’s just waking up from anesthesia, that one of her kidneys has been unnecessarily removed.”
- Dr. Ramon Vazquez failed to read Pacheco’s medical records. Had he done so, he would have realized that she had a pelvic kidney, which was clearly documented on an MRI. A complaint made by Florida’s Department of Health, however, shows that when Vazquez cut open the 51-year-old, he saw a “pelvic mass and provided a presumptive diagnosis” of cancer before removing the “mass … in its entirety.”
- Pacheco sued Vazquez and two other surgeons for malpractice. The lawsuit was only recently settled despite the fact that the surgery took place in May 2016. However, Vazquez’s lawyer insists that his client is innocent. “The case was settled on his behalf for a nominal amount due to the uncertainty of litigation and in no way did Dr. Vazquez admit liability by agreeing to this settlement,” said Mark Mittelmark.
- Surprisingly, Vazquez is still employed at the hospital. However, he still has a complaint against him by Florida’s Department of Health that could eventually see his license revoked or a fine issued.
