Mom went in for knee surgery. $34,000. Simple. Two hours passed. Three. A nurse came out. “There was a complication.” A doctor said, “We began the wrong procedure. Spinal fusion. Not knee replacement.” They opened her back. 40 minutes in. She’s 77. Under anesthesia 6 hours. I pulled. I pulled her wristband. Wrong name. Wrong procedure code. The risk manager said, “Human error.” I hired a malpractice attorney. $8,000 retainer. The admissions nurse mixed up 2 patients. The other other woman got Mom’s knee replacement instead. She’s in a wheelchair now. Her daughter called me. “The hospital said it was a name error. My mother’s maiden name is the same as yours.” I checked. The other patient’s photo was face-up-up on the floor. I recognized her. She’s my mother’s…

I was standing at the foot of my mother’s hospital bed, turning the little plastic band on her wrist so I could read it, and the name printed there wasn’t …

Mom went in for knee surgery. $34,000. Simple. Two hours passed. Three. A nurse came out. “There was a complication.” A doctor said, “We began the wrong procedure. Spinal fusion. Not knee replacement.” They opened her back. 40 minutes in. She’s 77. Under anesthesia 6 hours. I pulled. I pulled her wristband. Wrong name. Wrong procedure code. The risk manager said, “Human error.” I hired a malpractice attorney. $8,000 retainer. The admissions nurse mixed up 2 patients. The other other woman got Mom’s knee replacement instead. She’s in a wheelchair now. Her daughter called me. “The hospital said it was a name error. My mother’s maiden name is the same as yours.” I checked. The other patient’s photo was face-up-up on the floor. I recognized her. She’s my mother’s… Read More