Phantom Surgeries: Companies Employing Troubled Doctor Should Have Known Better
Dr. Spyros Panos clearly had a lot of people talking about his methods and his surgical outcomes for many years before he finally lost his license last week. The orthopedic surgeon now is facing more than 250 lawsuits against him alleging, among other things, that he didn’t actually do anything when he cut into people, ostensibly to perform orthopedic procedures.
I wrote on Monday about two organizations that could be caught up in this mess. Here are two more entities that may merit more scrutiny.
St. Francis Hospital. The hospital where Panos performed some of his surgeries – the number of which were real and the number of which were fake has yet to be determined – has a history of claiming that it didn’t know anything about Panos’ problems, despite a legal record to the contrary. Sarah Bradshaw at the Poughkeepsie Journal wrote in November 2011:
Saint Francis spokesman Larry Hughes said the hospital hadn't received a complaint about Panos in the 12 years he performed surgeries there. Speaking generally about hospital procedures, he said the hospital's Physician Performance Improvement Committee addresses issues with surgeons when problems are reported. There is no limit to the number of surgeries a surgeon can do per day or per time period, Hughes said. "The patient is the doctor's, not the hospital's, responsibility," he added.
In all my years of health reporting, I have never seen hospital officials declare that patients are not their responsibility. Just in case you missed it, this hospital is claiming – at least when it’s talking to reporters – that their patients are “the doctor’s, not the hospital’s, responsibility.”
And yet when it comes to marketing the hospital’s services, the hospital wants to take full credit for helping patients.
When talking about its Orthopedic Center, St. Francis says, “Our goal is simple: to return our patients to normal function quickly and safely, achieving the highest possible quality of life.”
When talking about its Joint Replacement Center, St. Francis says, “Did you know that 74% of our patients reported feeling Extreme to Moderate pain prior to their hip or knee replacement surgery - and that 85% of our patients reported having mild to no pain 6 months after surgery!”
And when talking about its cancer care, St. Francis says, “A diagnosis of cancer can have a frightening impact on a patient and their family. The Herb & Sue Ann Redl Center for Cancer Care at Saint Francis Hospital is an ideal setting for addressing the overall impact of a cancer diagnosis as well as focusing on the diagnosis and treatment of the disease itself.”
But if something goes wrong at the hospital, don’t expect the hospital to take any responsibility. No pain? We’ll put an exclamation point on that one. A lot of pain after surgery? That’s the doctor’s fault.
Now, what about the claim that nobody complained about Panos? What form might a complaint take? A patient calling the CEO and saying, “I think my surgery was a fake?” How about a lawsuit claiming malpractice? Here’s what Bradshaw found:
The Hudson Valley Center for Ambulatory Surgery at Saint Francis was named as a codefendant in a 2010 case filed by Timothy Panzanaro's law firm, Meagher & Meagher, and a case filed Oct. 13 by Lisa Manley's law firm, Salenger, Sack, Kimmel & Bavaro. Saint Francis Hospital was named in a 2007 case brought by Frances Russo that was eventually dropped before going to trial. Panzanaro, a Dutchess County resident and a Panos patient from 2008 to 2010, alleges medical malpractice in his suit. Manley is suing because of permanent nerve damage in her hand after an allegedly unnecessary and botched surgical procedure for a cyst removal in 2009, said her lawyer, Jeffrey Kimmel.
A lawsuit in 2007. A lawsuit in 2010. A lawsuit in 2011. Don’t those count as complaints?
Fiduciary Insurance Company of America. In a case that is already full of hard-to-believe moments, Bradshaw found a stunner in August 2012. After Panos had been fired from his Medical Group, given up his surgical privileges at two hospitals, and had his medical records seized by the U.S. Attorney’s office, she found him working for Fiduciary Insurance conducting medical evaluations! (Pain free!) Bradshaw wrote:
This is in the wake of Panos’ facing 143 lawsuits, 21 of which were filed since mid-July, and his giving up privileges at Vassar Brothers Medical Center and Saint Francis Hospital. … According to a Fiduciary appointment notice between Panos and a claimant, Panos appears to be seeing Fiduciary’s no-fault auto insurance claimants at Bedford Medical P.C. in Brooklyn.
Can we just all stop for a minute and give a round of applause to Sarah Bradshaw? From years of writing about malpractice cases, I know the time it takes to track down, decipher and digest court files, medical board records, and other documents in multiple jurisdictions. Bradshaw has been doing it with great skill and clarity of mind for three years, and if regulators finally get a handle on what happened here, it will be to her credit.
Image by Jason Rogers via Flickr