Wrong side surgery incident

From the Boston Globe article:

An experienced surgeon at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center operated on the wrong side of a patient this week, a serious medical mistake disclosed in an e-mail that hospital administrators sent to staff members yesterday.

State authorities are investigating the errant surgery, which happened Monday during an elective procedure. A hospital administrator declined to provide specifics about the operation but said it did not involve removal of organs and did not cause permanent damage to the middle-aged patient, who was expected to suffer short-term discomfort. A state health regulator described the operation as an orthopedic procedure.

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