One of the highest-paid doctors in New York refused to perform brain surgery on an already-anesthetized patient whose scheduled surgeon had failed to show up, and the state health department is investigating.
How is this news? How did this "journalist" pitch this opening line to his editor? "Dude! A patient didn't get surgery today! There was some confusion, you think it'll play?"
The suspensions expired this week, but neither Milhorat nor Bolognese have commented because they are attending a medical conference in Italy. Neither physician has responded to an e-mail request for comment.
Haha....you
emailed them asking for a comment? From Comcast? And what's the point of mentioning the conference in Italy, you're implying one of two options: 1) you should have KNOWN that they were out of the country before
emailing them (and you should be frankly ashamed of yourself for sending a stupid email), or 2) if you're trying to say they're off galavanting on fabulous vacations instead of answering the heinous charges of not performing non-emergent surgery on someone (while refusing to investigate and report the circumstances surrounding the event, and which happens nearly every day in every hospital in the country for legitimate reasons), you probably should have done more than email them.
Claire Pospisil, a spokeswoman for the state Health Department, confirmed the situation was being investigated.
Oh yeah? How many "situations" are investigated by the health department every year? How many are run-of-the-mill nothing happened everyone keep working outcomes? And what role did you media slugs have in spurring that investigation?
The unidentified patient was under anesthesia, head shaved, but the 48-year-old Bolognese could not be found, the Daily News of New York reported on Wednesday, citing sources it did not identify.
Okay...we have absolutely no information about why the surgeon couldn't be found, which could have been an emergency, and we have no information about why they anesthetized the patient without having contacted the surgeon first.
Staffers contacted Milhorat, who refused to do the surgery because the woman was not his patient.
Uh...duh? I wouldn't do it either. Um...you're telling me that her surgeon can't be found and you are realizing someone screwed up by anesthetizing the patient before confirming the surgeon wasn't there, and now you want me to do this lady's non-emergent brain surgery without any knowledge of her case, under time pressure (since she's already under anesthesia), without ever having spoken to her or seen her before, let alone done my own history & physical and interpreted her imaging studies because it's my ass on the line? I don't ****ing think so. How dare this "journalist" imply that the surgeon was out of line. "...refused to do the surgery because the woman was not his patient." You're vilifying him and pretending that he's some egocentric greedy selfish doctor.
A North Shore spokesman said the woman later had successful surgery.
How is this story news again?
Crain's New York, a leading business publication, identified Milhorat and Bolognese as among the New York City area's top medical earners in 2007, with Milhorat taking in $7.2 million and Bolognese earning $2.4 million.
They help run North Shore's Chiari Institute, which draws patients worldwide who have a rare congenital brain defect that can cause headaches, dizziness and other pain. It wasn't clear whether the woman whose surgery was canceled had the condition.
Dr. Lawrence Smith, chief medical officer for the North Shore-LIJ Health System, said in a statement that Milhorat "is widely regarded as one of the world's foremost experts on Chiari malformation, and his surgical expertise has benefitted thousands of patients around the world."
Milhorat joined the North Shore-LIJ Health System in 2002 and has been practicing medicine since 1961.
This guy's all over the place. I have no idea what he's legitimately trying to imply, there's nothing to imply here. He's overpaid? Well, you just made reference to his extensive qualifications and involvement in numerous medical institutes and is CHAIRMAN of the neurosurgery department at the hospital. Come on.
This "journalist" should be ashamed of himself.
