Oregon Surgeon Performs Wrong-Site Surgery on Four-Year-Old

A critical incident team at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland, Ore., will be interviewing a private practice physician and hospital employees that were involved in a wrong-site surgery performed on a four-year-old boy, according to a local ABC news report.

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Jesse Matlock was scheduled to undergo an operation to correct a wandering eye. The surgery aims to weaken the muscle that causes the eye to wander. According to the news report, Shawn Goodman, MD, did not realize she performed the operation on the wrong eye until it was complete. The boy’s parents said a nurse involved in the operation came out of the OR, simply told the parents that the team was going to operate on both eyes and then returned to the OR without further explanation, according to the news report.

After the surgeries were done, Dr. Goodman told the family she had “lost her sense of direction” because a nurse in the OR accidentally covered the mark indicating which eye to perform surgery on. Jesse and his family must wait five weeks, after his eyes have healed, before a physician can determine if any permanent damage has been done, according to the news report.

Read the news report about the wrong-site surgery on Jesse Matlock.

Read other coverage about wrong-site surgery:

Anesthesiologists Increasingly Responsible for Wrong-Site Procedures

Patient Involvement in Surgical Site Marking May Not Reduce Incidence of Wrong-Site Surgery

3 Tips for Using EMRs to Prevent Wrong Procedures for the Wrong Patients

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