Plaintiffs' Personal Injury Law Firm

Missing Brain Surgeons Face Litigation

In Manhasset, New York, a woman was completely prepped for brain surgery at the NorthShore University Hospital, but when the time came for the first incisioin, her surgeon wasnowhere to be found. The patient had already been put under anesthesia, so the remainingsurgical staff began searching frantically for Dr. Paolo Bolognese, the neurosurgeonscheduled to perform the surgery.With the patient still under anesthesia, the staff gave up looking for the doctor andsummoned the chief of neurosurgery, Dr. Thomas Milhorat to take over and perform thesurgery. Dr. Milhorat refused, explaining that it was not his patient. With no otherrecourse, the staff brought the patient to recovery and broke down the operating room.The surgery did not take place. As a result, both doctors were suspended for two weeks.The plaintiff's attorney Lee Goldsmith commented that.the incident didn't surprise him atall. Goldsmith is filing lawsuits against Drs. Milhorat and Bolognese on behalf of 11 oftheir patients.The patients claim that these doctors have been performing a procedurecalled Tethered Cord Spinal surgery that supposedly corrects a congenital defect knownas Chiari Malformation in the brain, but it doesn't work. Apparently these doctors havebeen performing this procedure their entire careers.The attorney for the doctors claims that everyone acted reasonably when leaving thepatient on the table. He believes that there is more to this story. The hospital doesn't seemto share his enthusiasm when they issued a statement that, "the hospital will takeadditional steps in the days and weeks ahead to address all issues in the investigation,which is continuing." Attorney Goldsmith for the plaintiff is glad that the investigation iscontinuing. He is hoping to get some answers for his clients, including a five year old girlwith lower back pain that she did not have prior to her surgery.