[Making the case for direct deposit]
Board says surgery halted for bank trip
Doctor suspended for leaving patient
By Anne Barnard, Globe Staff, 8/8/2002
The patient was on his stomach, anesthetized, with an open incision in his back. Six hours into spinal surgery, according to the state medical board, the surgeon told the operating staff at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge that he needed to ''step out.''
Then, the board said, Dr. David C. Arndt went to Harvard Square to deposit a paycheck.
Arndt hitched a ride with a sales representative from a medical device company, the board alleges, leaving nurses and anesthesiologists wondering where he was and when he would be back. He returned around 35 minutes later and completed the surgery, the board alleges.
The Board of Registration in Medicine yesterday suspended Arndt's medical license pending further investigation, calling him ''an immediate and serious threat to the health, safety, and welfare of the public.''
In the July 10 operation, the patient was unharmed, but the board contends that Arndt's absence placed the man at risk.
The alleged incident appears to be one of the most unusual and blatant cases of ''patient abandonment'' to come before the board.
''I've never seen anything quite like this,'' said Nancy Achin Sullivan, the board's executive director.
The medical board investigates many allegations of patient abandonment, said Sullivan, but they typically involve what she called ''inartful termination of the doctor-patient relationship'' - situations where patients feel the doctor did not properly conclude a consultation or refer them to another physician. She could not recall a case of a doctor leaving a patient on the operating table.
An attending anesthesiologist immediately notified Mount Auburn officials, and operating room staff told Arndt they were upset. Mount Auburn suspended Arndt and reported the incident to the board.
Arndt, 45, has the right to appeal the board's suspension and to present evidence at a board hearing on the incident, after which the board will issue a ruling. Neither Arndt nor his lawyer, Claudia Hunter, could be reached yesterday.
An orthopedic surgeon, Arndt is a 1992 graduate of Harvard Medical School. He has operating privileges at some of the largest hospitals in the state, including Brigham and Women's, Beth Israel Deaconess, New England Baptist, and Newton-Wellesley.
According to the allegations, Arndt initially seemed ''surprised'' that the anesthesiologist was upset by his absence, and explained that he had to get to the bank before it closed because he was in ''a financial crisis'' and had to pay overdue bills. But on Tuesday, he told the board's investigator that he regretted his actions and had ''exercised remarkably horrible judgment.''
Arndt has practiced since 1998 at Mount Auburn. He had no prior record of discipline there, according to a hospital spokeswoman. He is also licensed to practice medicine in Louisiana.
The board's allegations, culled from a board investigator's interviews with operating room staff and other hospital employees, portray an unusual chain of events: The patient was anesthetized for spinal fusion surgery at around 9:20 a.m. The first incision was made around 11 a.m. During the surgery, Arndt several times asked a nurse to call his office in Wellesley to see if his paycheck had arrived.
At around 5:30 p.m., when the surgery was about three-quarters completed, a general orthopedic surgeon headed to the operating area to perform surgery on another patient.
On the way, a woman handed that surgeon an envelope for Arndt, which contained his paycheck. The surgeon stepped into Arndt's operating room with the envelope, and Arndt asked him to wait there for five minutes while he took a break. The surgeon told the board he assumed Arndt was going to the bathroom.
Arndt then left the hospital with the sales representative, who had been in and out of the operating room during the surgery. The sales representative told the board they drove from the hospital on Mount Auburn Street in Cambridge to a bank in Harvard Square, approximately a mile away.
While he was gone, Arndt failed to answer several pages. The general surgeon he had asked to wait was not credentialed to perform spinal fusion surgery and was not scrubbed in. Nurses and the anesthesiologist summoned supervisors, and soon the chief of anesthesia, the chief of orthopedics, and the chief of surgery were consulted.
They decided to wait for Arndt and agreed not to mention the incident until he had completed the procedure. He returned after about 35 minutes, according to the board, and completed the operation about two hours later.
Arndt later explained he had thought the surgery would be over before the bank closed at 7 p.m., but that the operation was taking longer than he had expected. He also told the board he had left his outside pager number at the hospital desk; according to the hospital's internal suspension memo, employees assumed he was in the building and used the in-house paging system.
When Arndt returned, he asked a surgical technician if she was angry with him, she told the board. She answered, ''I would not want you to leave my mother on the table.''
Board says surgery halted for bank trip
Doctor suspended for leaving patient
By Anne Barnard, Globe Staff, 8/8/2002
The patient was on his stomach, anesthetized, with an open incision in his back. Six hours into spinal surgery, according to the state medical board, the surgeon told the operating staff at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge that he needed to ''step out.''
Then, the board said, Dr. David C. Arndt went to Harvard Square to deposit a paycheck.
Arndt hitched a ride with a sales representative from a medical device company, the board alleges, leaving nurses and anesthesiologists wondering where he was and when he would be back. He returned around 35 minutes later and completed the surgery, the board alleges.
The Board of Registration in Medicine yesterday suspended Arndt's medical license pending further investigation, calling him ''an immediate and serious threat to the health, safety, and welfare of the public.''
In the July 10 operation, the patient was unharmed, but the board contends that Arndt's absence placed the man at risk.
The alleged incident appears to be one of the most unusual and blatant cases of ''patient abandonment'' to come before the board.
''I've never seen anything quite like this,'' said Nancy Achin Sullivan, the board's executive director.
The medical board investigates many allegations of patient abandonment, said Sullivan, but they typically involve what she called ''inartful termination of the doctor-patient relationship'' - situations where patients feel the doctor did not properly conclude a consultation or refer them to another physician. She could not recall a case of a doctor leaving a patient on the operating table.
An attending anesthesiologist immediately notified Mount Auburn officials, and operating room staff told Arndt they were upset. Mount Auburn suspended Arndt and reported the incident to the board.
Arndt, 45, has the right to appeal the board's suspension and to present evidence at a board hearing on the incident, after which the board will issue a ruling. Neither Arndt nor his lawyer, Claudia Hunter, could be reached yesterday.
An orthopedic surgeon, Arndt is a 1992 graduate of Harvard Medical School. He has operating privileges at some of the largest hospitals in the state, including Brigham and Women's, Beth Israel Deaconess, New England Baptist, and Newton-Wellesley.
According to the allegations, Arndt initially seemed ''surprised'' that the anesthesiologist was upset by his absence, and explained that he had to get to the bank before it closed because he was in ''a financial crisis'' and had to pay overdue bills. But on Tuesday, he told the board's investigator that he regretted his actions and had ''exercised remarkably horrible judgment.''
Arndt has practiced since 1998 at Mount Auburn. He had no prior record of discipline there, according to a hospital spokeswoman. He is also licensed to practice medicine in Louisiana.
The board's allegations, culled from a board investigator's interviews with operating room staff and other hospital employees, portray an unusual chain of events: The patient was anesthetized for spinal fusion surgery at around 9:20 a.m. The first incision was made around 11 a.m. During the surgery, Arndt several times asked a nurse to call his office in Wellesley to see if his paycheck had arrived.
At around 5:30 p.m., when the surgery was about three-quarters completed, a general orthopedic surgeon headed to the operating area to perform surgery on another patient.
On the way, a woman handed that surgeon an envelope for Arndt, which contained his paycheck. The surgeon stepped into Arndt's operating room with the envelope, and Arndt asked him to wait there for five minutes while he took a break. The surgeon told the board he assumed Arndt was going to the bathroom.
Arndt then left the hospital with the sales representative, who had been in and out of the operating room during the surgery. The sales representative told the board they drove from the hospital on Mount Auburn Street in Cambridge to a bank in Harvard Square, approximately a mile away.
While he was gone, Arndt failed to answer several pages. The general surgeon he had asked to wait was not credentialed to perform spinal fusion surgery and was not scrubbed in. Nurses and the anesthesiologist summoned supervisors, and soon the chief of anesthesia, the chief of orthopedics, and the chief of surgery were consulted.
They decided to wait for Arndt and agreed not to mention the incident until he had completed the procedure. He returned after about 35 minutes, according to the board, and completed the operation about two hours later.
Arndt later explained he had thought the surgery would be over before the bank closed at 7 p.m., but that the operation was taking longer than he had expected. He also told the board he had left his outside pager number at the hospital desk; according to the hospital's internal suspension memo, employees assumed he was in the building and used the in-house paging system.
When Arndt returned, he asked a surgical technician if she was angry with him, she told the board. She answered, ''I would not want you to leave my mother on the table.''
VIEW 5 of 5 COMMENTS
josebove12195:
good journal entry. That story caught my eye too... what a wierdo. I wonder if he's a good cook...
socrates:
Damn intereting story. Definately caught my eye. Can't trust the current state of medical "industry." I know from experience and understand your anguish. I've been through it...