Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1169964
78 CMO / CARE DELIVERY Wrong-site kidney surgery was a 'mistake,' say Vanderbilt physicians By Anne-Marie Kommers T wo physicians admitted they mistak- enly placed a medical device in the wrong kidney during a 2017 procedure at Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanderbilt Univer- sity Medical Center, an error for which they are being investigated by the state health de- partment, according to e Tennessean. Kelvin Moses, MD, PhD, an assistant pro- fessor of urology at VUMC, and Elizabeth Green, MD, a urology resident at the hospital, admitted the error in depositions from July. Dr. Moses said he reviewed the plan for the procedure beforehand but misremembered the details. Another Vanderbilt resident dis- covered the error the following morning, at which time Dr. Moses apologized to the pa- tient and took responsibility for the error, ac- cording to the deposition. Dr. Green said she was initially responsible for the error, since she announced the wrong procedure site before beginning the opera- tion. VUMC surgical teams usually confirm patient information against an electronic whiteboard, but the whiteboard was malfunc- tioning at the time for an unknown reason, Dr. Green added. Carla Miller, the patient who underwent the mistaken procedure, filed a lawsuit against VUMC in March. e lawsuit claims physi- cians implanted a stent on the wrong side of her body and into her right kidney, although the stent was supposed to go into her le kid- ney. Ms. Miller died in May, but her family is continuing the lawsuit and says her kidney issues contributed to her death. VUMC conducted an analysis of the botched procedure immediately aerwards and in- stituted "corrective steps to ensure a similar error would not occur," according to spokes- man John Howser. He said there is "no evi- dence" the mistake impacted Ms. Miller's health or led to her death. n UNC Hospitals regains Joint Commission accreditation By Mackenzie Bean C hapel Hill, N.C.-based UNC Hospitals regained Joint Commission accreditation Aug. 30 after spending nearly two months on probation, ac- cording to the accrediting body's website. The Joint Commission denied accreditation status for the system after finding several care deficiencies during a July 17 survey. Deficiencies included inadequate sui- cide screening protocols and a lack of ligature-resistant furniture in behavioral health areas, according to an in- ternal UNC document cited by The News & Observer. The Joint Commission updated the system's accredita- tion status after visiting the health system Aug. 29-30. Inspectors are slated to return for a follow-up visit in De- cember, a UNC spokesperson told Becker's via email. "UNC Medical Center's accreditation status with The Joint Commission has been updated to 'Accreditation with a follow-up survey' following our successful surveys last week," the spokesperson said. "UNC Medical Center leadership is confident in our ability to provide excellent patient care to all North Carolinians. UNC Health Care is committed to continuous quality improvement and working with The Joint Commission is an important part of that ongoing effort." n Jewish Hospital cancels suspension of Louisville heart transplant program By Anne-Marie Kommers K entuckyOne Health and the University of Louisville (Ky.) have canceled plans in late August to suspend the heart transplant program at Louisville-based Jewish Hospital, Becker's learned. KentuckyOne Health, aslso based in Louisville, an- nounced in July it was voluntarily placing the heart trans- plant program on long-term inactivation on Aug. 17 due to the low number of transplants performed in recent years. But the health system and the university began discussions on maintaining the heart transplant program in August af- ter signing an agreement allowing the University of Louis- ville Health to take charge of Jewish Hospital Nov. 1. Now, KentuckyOne Health is asking the United Network of Organ Sharing to disregard its previous announcement on inactivating the heart transplant program. "The heart transplant program is simply too important for our university, our community and the patients who are depending on this lifesaving procedure," said University of Louisville President Neeli Bendapudi, PhD. "Soon we will have a plan in place to ensure the viability of the program for the future." n