NYU "whistleblower" resident fired

[islandinthesun]

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/...octor_fired_over_alarm_L9oRQBkkFnTo7PzHbjjSIM

cliff notes: resident anonymously told patients not to follow through with lap-band procedures telling them that it is dangerous and that there was a real chance of dying; fired from program and now a 1L

might be old news but story was in nypost today...

thoughts?

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[Musashi450]

Scaring patients day before surgery and impersonating an OR nurse? Bad move on her part...

 

[LucidSplash]

Thoughts: I don't believe you can call this "whistle-blowing." IMHO, whistle-blowing is alerting authorities or the media after you have attempted, unsuccessfully, to address concerns over repeated and systemic dysfunction. From the tone of the article, it seems she witnessed concerning post-operative care which contributed to the death of one patient and then called other upcoming patients, lied about who she was, and tried to get the patients to contact authorities.

Perhaps the quality of the bariatrics program WAS in question - but, if the tone of the article is on point, she handled this TOTALLY unprofessionally and I'm unsurprised she was fired.

 

[filter07]

Not enough facts but from what was reported, it doesn't look good for the resident. Lap band patients routinely go to the floor post op, so I don't understand the complaint there. Impersonating someone else is not the best idea.

 

[sunny123]

She is actually now at Seton Hall doing law

 

[glade]

Like everyone else said, this isn't "whistleblowing," in the sense that people understand it. Whistleblowing deals with revealing institutional problems. Believe me, I'm the biggest proponent of whistleblowing there is. I love it when programs and institutions are held to the same standards as they hold residents to.

This is more of a person bad-mouthing a physician. I mean, sure, she may have concerns (real or not) about the morbidity rates of people undergoing bariatric surgery there. Fine. But it's not her place or job to be telling people "you should get this done somewhere else." At my place, we knew surgeons who shouldn't be operating because they often had major breaks in sterile techniques, had lots of post-op complications, and so on. But that's not a "hidden" statistic. Everyone in the hospital knows the reputation and so does the hospital administration. For a resident to be diverting patients away from anyone really isn't the right way to go about things. I'm not saying she was wrong to care about it, but to use her position as a resident to do that is what was wrong.

That's just my take.

 

[droliver]

I actually got to operate with the surgeon in that story, Dr. George Fielding, when he was stateside as a visiting professor at Louisville in 1999-2000 teaching surgeons the lap-band surgery (which was just being introduced here). He is hands down the most skilled surgeon I have ever seen with a laparoscope, which is the consensus of most people who watch him go. He's also got the most stereotypical Aussie male swagger you will ever see - like Crocodile Dundee come to life!

That resident in the story seems kind of pathologic. What's described was unbelievably out of order by her.

 

[glade]

I find it actually more interesting that the article casually glossed over the fact that the guy had to pay $973K over a lawsuit over the death. Obviously no details were in the article, but that sounds like B.S. unless there was some egregious problem. Seriously, "fat person with HTN, CAD, probably sleep apnea, probably pulmonary HTN has cardiac arrest after surgery ...CALL THE PRESSES!!" What a joke. Someone should kick the lawyer square in the nuts.

 

[GreatSaphenous]

Anyone care to guess what kind of lawyer she becomes? She certainly seems to have embraced the idea that she must swoop in to protect all of these victims of the medical profession.

All for now, go back to your stuffed scallops with sun-dried tomato aioli.

I am the Great Saphenous!!!!

 

[glade]

Anyone care to guess what kind of lawyer she becomes?

A sucky one?

I'm just basing that on the fact that she was so unsubtle and was about as clever as a monkey trying to use a microwave.

 

[treehorsio]

This may also be old news, but did you all hear about the Hopkins PGY3 who was fired for refusing to lie to the RRC about work hours?

 

[Winged Scapula]

This may also be old news, but did you all hear about the Hopkins PGY3 who was fired for refusing to lie to the RRC about work hours?

The discussion is here.

 

[opr8n]

I actually got to operate with the surgeon in that story, Dr. George Fielding, when he was stateside as a visiting professor at Louisville in 1999-2000 teaching surgeons the lap-band surgery (which was just being introduced here). He is hands down the most skilled surgeon I have ever seen with a laparoscope, which is the consensus of most people who watch him go. He's also got the most stereotypical Aussie male swagger you will ever see - like Crocodile Dundee come to life!

That resident in the story seems kind of pathologic. What's described was unbelievably out of order by her.

and he himself has a band

 

[peppy]

This is more of a person bad-mouthing a physician. I mean, sure, she may have concerns (real or not) about the morbidity rates of people undergoing bariatric surgery there. Fine. But it's not her place or job to be telling people "you should get this done somewhere else." At my place, we knew surgeons who shouldn't be operating because they often had major breaks in sterile techniques, had lots of post-op complications, and so on. But that's not a "hidden" statistic. Everyone in the hospital knows the reputation and so does the hospital administration. For a resident to be diverting patients away from anyone really isn't the right way to go about things. I'm not saying she was wrong to care about it, but to use her position as a resident to do that is what was wrong.

I agree. If she was really concerned about patient safety she could have found a more appropriate way to do this. Her way of doing things was just a very creepy way of scaring patients.

 

[Musashi450]

and he himself has a band

Sounds like he's good but did he do it himself? Doing your own laproscopy makes you "da balls"

 

[geekOCD]

I agree this woman handled things badly but I'm curious about what the board's thoughts on what the right way to handle this general situation is...as a poster mentioned, we ALL know surgeons in our hospitals whose skills we may seriously question, surgeons where every resident says if they're sick and this attending's on service, they'll make sure to go to another hospital, etc. But the patients usually (unless they know someone in the hospital who can tell them what's up, and I LOVE when that happens) have no idea & I do feel bad for them sometimes...so as a resident, what can/should you do? How do you guys deal with it?

Another example: when a patient's scheduling an elective hernia repair or something, it's been really tempting sometimes to help them pick a date that avoids the infamously bad surgeon at one of my hospitals. I've never done it or influenced the patient's decision in any way, but I'm curious about what you think...

 

[JackADeli]

...I'm curious about what the board's thoughts on what the right way to handle this general situation is...so as a resident, what can/should you do? How do you guys deal with it?...

In short, take a look at your hospitals policies.... Every hospital has policies and protocols for reporting deficiencies and dangerous situations and these are NOT kept secret from residents (except that residents fail to even read the ACGME requirements or anything else they sign). In fact, the "bylaws" ALL residents in any quality accredited program sign will have a section on this.

The other issue is that all morbiditry & mortalities are suppose to be reported to the department/head chief. If the resident was freaked over this death, she could have discussed it with the PD and potentially have presented it at M&M. This case that so upset this resident was clearly not a secret as their was a lawsuit actually settled.

...A review by the state Department of Health found...

Any lawsuit will bring the entire hospital/med ctr admin down on it. I am certain there was a complete review of this case and critical error point analysis. She was freaked out but there apparently was not a secret in this case that required her clandestine conduct.

 

[tussy]

Proper way is to discuss the case and your concerns with either the program director, the division head or chief of surgery. Going straight to the patient or to the media is unprofessional. There are proper channels to investigate these things and learn if the allegations are sound. She should have been fired.

 

[PharmaTope]

About Dr. Pal

Neelu Pal is a board certified general surgeon who completed residency training in 2005 at University of Medicine and Dentistry in Newark. She went on to complete fellowship training in Bariatric surgery at University Medical Center at Princeton in 2007. She is currently self employed and in the process of starting a private practice in Jersey City. She believes that the law and medicine are based on similar profound ethical principles and is interested in this confluence and the impact that it has on health care delivery. She is especially interested in the areas of patient safety, fraud and abuse and drug and device law. Read
Curriculum Vitae

Self Employed as aConsultant for FairCode Associates, MD and Advanced Medical Reviews, CA
Fellowship in Bariatric Surgery – University Medical Center at Princeton, Princeton NJ
General Surgery Residency - University of Medicine and Dentistry (UMDNJ), Newark, NJ
Internship - University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, Kansas
Postgraduate Training - Department of Surgery Armed Forces Medical College Pune, India
Medical Education - Bangalore Medical College, Bangalore, India
Board Certification by the American Board of Surgery
Medical Licenses
New York State License - Unrestricted, Current Certificate
New Jersey State License - Unrestricted, Current Certificate
Pennsylvania State License - Unrestricted, Current Certificate
Memberships
American Medical Association (AMA)
American College of Surgeons (ACS)
Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES)
American Women Surgeons (AWS)
Selected Research Experience

• Research in the cellular effects of ischemia-reperfusion, University of Chicago, Department of Vascular surgery, 1999

• Clinical study to compare the outcome of below-knee amputation in ischemic limbs performed by the Burgess (long posterior flap) and skew flap techniques, Armed Forces Medical College, 1997

• Clinical study to determine the outcome of intra-arterial urokinase therapy for the management of limb ischemia due to thrombophlebittis obliterans, Armed Forces Medical College, 1996
• Clinical study on the use of omental flap for revascularization of ischemic lower limbs, Armed Forces Medical College, 1995

Selected Publications and Presentations

• “Sigmoid and Cecal Volvulus” Book Chapter, eMedicine, Feb 2008.
• “Intestinal fistulas: surgical perspective” Book Chapter, eMedicine, Feb 2008.
• “Radiation Enteritis and Proctitis” Book Chapter, eMedicine, Feb 2008.
• “Effect of limb length in Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass in patients with BMI 45-50 kg/m2″ Poster, ASBS Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, June 2007.
• “Bilopancreatic limb obstruction after Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass” Poster, ASBS Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, June 2007.
• “The Malpractice Insurance Crisis in Medicine” Grand Rounds, Department of Surgery, UMDNJ, Newark, NJ, April 2005.
• “Appendicitis and Pregnancy” Grand Rounds, Departments of Surgery and Obstetrics and Gynecology. University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, May 2001.
• “Below knee amputation - study with special reference to skew flap and long-posterior flap techniques,” M.S. Dissertation,Armed Forces Medical College, Pune (India), March 1998.
• “A case of carcinoid tumor of the kidney,“Presentation at the Armed Forces Medical College Symposium, Armed Forces Medical College, Pune (India), October 1997.

• “A case of traumatic diaphragmatic hernia - unusual mode of injury,” Presentation at Command Hospital, Pune Surgical Society meeting, Pune (India), March 1997.

thought i would post this. unfortunately i see this as a launching ground for a different career....... you know the malpratice lawsuit future...

 

[BlondeDocteur]

Read the first entry in the comments section-- it's her side of the story. She claims to have exhausted the proper channels and acted only out of desperation.

I think the above-cited Neeru Pal is a different one.