Surgeon left patient on operating table because he had to eat — then fell asleep - MLive.com

The incident occurred in 2016, but Massachusetts state regulators have just now fined a top Boston surgeon who left a patient awaiting ankle surgery lying on an emergency room operating table, while he went for something to eat, and then fell asleep. He didn’t return until the next day.

A report by USA Today said Dr. Tony Tannoury, a spinal surgeon at Boston Medical Center, has been reprimanded by the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine. He’s facing a $5,000 fine and will be required to complete professional development courses.

The incident, which occurred in late 2016 was reported to the board in January 2017, “after Tannoury was reprimanded from the hospital,” USA Today noted. Disciplinary action against Tannoury’s medical license was announced by the board on Monday, nearly five years after the incident.

The Daily Beast reported that the medical lapse led to the board concluding Tannoury “engaged in conduct that undermines the public confidence in the integrity of the medical profession.”

Tannoury, the attending surgeon for the night, learned eventually that the operation, which was successful, had been performed in his absence by a chief resident who had helped him move the patient to the operating room. Tannoury then left early and returned the next day, the Daily Beast stated.

Until the Monday release of the board order, a lapse of close to five years, the incident had not been publicized, the report noted.

The board’s executive director, George Zachos, told The Boston Globe that there were a number of factors that delayed the disciplinary action, USA Today cited.

A report by the New York Post cited The Boston Globe, which said the president of the Society for Patient Centered Orthopedics criticized Tannoury’s conduct as “deplorable” saying the reprimand he received was “far too light.”

“That’s just the proverbial slap on the wrist,” Dr. James Rickert, an orthopedic surgeon from Indiana, told the Globe. “I can’t believe that if that was a board composed mostly of patients that they wouldn’t have had a much harsher penalty.”

Tannoury, 54, has been the head of spinal surgery at the Boston University School of Medicine, which is affiliated with BMC, since 2006, according to his LinkedIn page.

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Surgeon left patient on operating table because he had to eat — then fell asleep - MLive.com
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