Removing a cyst instead of a kidney during a 2021 surgery will cost an Orlando doctor $7,236 and require more education after the state Board of Medicine approved a settlement agreement.
But the punitive action didn’t address something else in the Florida Department of Health administrative complaint: Why the patient wasn’t told about the mistake for two months.
In addition to the $5,000 fine and $2,236 reimbursement of Florida Department of Health investigation and prosecution costs, urologist Zamip Patel must take a five-hour continuing medical education course in risk management and give a one-hour speech at a medical facility on wrong-site surgeries.
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According to the complaint, on June 16, 2021, Patel was supposed to remove a right kidney. He took out “a significant mass, which was sent to pathology.”
Pathology’s report two days later: Patel removed a “hemorrhagic and inflamed cyst, not the intended kidney.”
But, the complaint said, the patient didn’t know about this when he showed up at Advent Health Orlando two months later complaining of pain. A CT scan revealed he still had a right kidney.
Patel has been board certified with the American Board of Urology since 2013 and licensed in Florida since Feb. 25, 2011. His Florida Department of Health profile says this is the first disciplinary action against his license.
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