Hospital Failed to Act on Impaired Surgeon

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A western Pennsylvania hospital failed to take immediate action when an on-duty surgeon was observed staring into space and had slurred speech, according to a report from the state Health Department.
In a report just made public the state agency said the delayed action by administrators at the 216 bed Penn Highlands- Dubois Medical Center placed patients in jeopardy and violated the facility's own established policies.
A review of hospital records showed several employees had expressed concerns about the surgeon's behavior and strongly suspected drug or alcohol use was the cause.
The record review also showed that at least three scheduled surgical procedures had to be canceled and re-scheduled because the unnamed surgeon never showed up.
"The information you are requesting involves personnel matters; therefore, we cannot share additional information," said Penn Highlands spokeswoman MaryJo Yebernetsky when asked for a comment.
"People in the operating room went to Employee 10 and said the doctor was not acting appropriately," the report states.
Two employees told state inspectors that the operating room leadership "did not follow the policy" for cases of suspected employee impairment.
That policy called for immediate action to report the suspicion to the employee's supervisor or to the human relations department.
"Employee 9 was slurring and staring into space," one employee told state surveyors, who visited the hospital in December.
The three cases of delayed surgery due to the physician's absence occurred in August.
"Aug. 6 surgery cancelled due to doctor not here," the report states.
Another employee told the inspectors the surgeon was "routinely late."
When the Health Department workers confronted one of the managers, the manager said, "I don't think it was brought to my attention. Today was the first day I knew about this."
Another employee told the surveyors,"I didn't feel safe. I thought that Employee 9 was impaired."
The hospital did file a plan of correction in which it said new policies were being adopted and that any canceled surgeries would be reviewed and any doctor who had three surgeries canceled in a three month period would get a warning.
The corrective action plan also calls for staff to be re-educated on the procedures to be followed in a case where an employee was suspected of alcohol or drug abuse.
The state report also faulted the hospital for failing to appoint a manager of surgical services who met the requirements of the job. The manager was an anesthesiologist but the job specifications called for a surgeon to hold the post.