Botched Brain Operation Leads to New Procedures

Children’s Hospital of Orange County announced Thursday that it was changing some surgery procedures after doctors operated on the wrong side of a patient’s head.

Under the new rules, cutting devices will be removed from the immediate operating area until a required “time out” has been completed, while surgeons verify the patient’s medical records to ensure they are performing the correct procedure.

The state Department of Health Services reported this week that CHOC surgeons opened the wrong side of a child’s skull to remove a brain tumor in January. The agency’s report found that doctors failed to observe the time out before the surgery and failed to mark the location on the patient’s body where the operation was to occur. CHOC’s changes came in response to the state investigation.

CHOC said it would ensure marking procedures were followed. The department approved the plan Thursday.

Doctors realized their error when they found no tumor under the skull portion they had removed. They replaced the section and completed the removal on the other side of the child’s head in the same operation. The patient had no complications as a result of the mistake and remains under CHOC’s care.