A Florida surgeon has been charged with manslaughter after allegedly removing a patient’s liver instead of his spleen during a routine procedure, resulting in the patient’s death. The surgeon, whose name has not been released pending formal charges, had previously been involved in at least one other case where the wrong organ was removed, according to medical board records.
The incident occurred at a Tampa-area hospital in early April. The patient, a 62-year-old man, was undergoing surgery to address complications from a blood disorder that required spleen removal. Instead, the surgeon mistakenly removed a portion of the liver, leading to severe internal bleeding and organ failure. The patient died three days later.
Medical analysts say such errors are rare but not unheard of. ‘Wrong-site surgeries are considered ‘never events’ in healthcare, yet they still occur due to systemic failures or human error,’ said a patient safety expert familiar with the case, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing investigation.
Florida’s Department of Health has launched a review of the surgeon’s license, and the hospital where the procedure took place has suspended all non-emergency surgeries pending an internal audit. Legal experts suggest this case could set a precedent for criminal liability in medical malpractice suits, particularly given the surgeon’s prior record.