A Georgia man is suing a hospital after staff allegedly lost part of his skull during brain surgery.
Fernando Cluster, 62, was admitted to Emory University Hospital Midtown in Atlanta in September 2022 for an intracerebral hemorrhage, also known as a brain bleed.
Doctors planned to remove a saucer-sized piece of his skull to reduce pressure in his brain, according to a lawsuit.
But when Mr Cluster returned to the hospital two months later to have the 4.7in by 6in chunk replaced, the hospital claimed it had been lost in a pile of other unidentified bone fragments from other patients.
Fernando Cluster, 62, was admitted to Emory University Hospital Midtown in Atlanta in September 2022 for an intracerebral hemorrhage. He hospital allegedly lost a chunk of his skull in the process
Mr Cluster is now suing Emory University Hospital Midtown in Atlanta for medical bill compensation and emotional damages
A note from hospital staff in Mr Cluster’s file read: ‘We inspected the freezer where bone flaps are stored and could not find a bone flap with Mr Cluster’s patient identification.’
‘There were several bone flaps with incomplete or missing patient identification, but we could not be certain which if any of these belonged to Mr Cluster.’
Without the piece, Mr Cluster was left with a dent in his head known as skull depression,
According to the lawsuit, obtained by the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, it took several days of waiting before the hospital had to order a synthetic replacement in the exact shape of the missing piece.
In November 2022, doctors placed the flap, but the hospital allegedly charged Mr Cluster $19,000.
And shortly after, he developed an infection, which the lawsuit claims is a known complication of synthetic replacements.
This is because certain materials used to make the components, such as hydroxyapatite, acrylic, and biphasic calcium phosphate (BCP), may not always be compatible with tissues in the brain.
When the materials are not compatible, they can set off an immune overreaction in the brain, leading to infection.
The infection left him unable to work, and by the end of the ordeal, Mr Cluster’s bill totalled $146,800.
The hospital allegedly did not offer any discounts for the treatment.
Mr Cluster and his wife are now suing the hospital for medical bill compensation and emotional damages.
‘It is shocking that a medical provider like Emory would lose part of one of its patient’s skulls and then refuse to accept responsibility,’ Mr Cluster and his wife said in a statement.
‘We now have to live with the consequence of Emory’s negligence, including daily fear about another infection in my head and medical costs.’
‘We want to know if this has happened to other patients to see if they have been given an explanation by Emory. Our goal is to make sure this never happens to another patient again.’
Chloe Dallaire, Mr Cluster’s attorney at Atlanta-based Hornsby Law Group, told the Atlanta-Journal Constitution: ‘While my clients are obviously upset that they and their insurance company were billed for the costs related to Emory’s negligence, I’m sure you can understand that their focus is on the egregiousness of Emory losing a part of his body and then having a flippant attitude about it afterwards.’
