Man sues hospital after staff allegedly lost 28-square-inch piece of his skull and then billed him to pay for a synthetic replacement

A Georgia man is suing an Atlanta hospital after staff allegedly lost a nearly 28-square-inch piece of his skull after a routine procedure and then billed him for a synthetic replacement when they couldnt find it.  Mr.Fernando Cluster reportedly checked in to Emory University Hospital Midtown in September 2022 for an intracerebral hemorrhage, commonly known as a brain bleed and doctors determined a 4.7-by-6 inch piece of his skull needed to be removed to reduce pressure, according to an Aug. 8 complaint obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.  But after returning to the hospital two months later to have the piece of skull replaced, the hospital couldnt find it amidst a pile of other unidentified bone fragments from other patients bodies.  We inspected the freezer where bone flaps are stored and could not find a bone flap with Mr. Clusters patient identification, a note left by hospital staff in Clusters medical file read.  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. With a hole in his head and nothing to fill it with the removal left Cluster with a large depression in the right side of his skull Clusters surgery was cancelled while the hospital fabricated a synthetic piece of skull.  By the end of November, the replacement had been inserted into Clusters head but the hospital charged him over $19,000 for the synthetic bone to replace what theyd allegedly lost.  Clusters nightmare was far from over, however.  After the synthetic bone was inserted, he contracted an infection and needed additional surgery, and was left unable to work for a time.  By the end of his ordeal, Clusters bill topped $146,800 and the hospital allegedly never offered him and his wife any discounts for the treatment.  While my clients are obviously upset that they and their insurance company were billed for the costs related to Emorys negligence, Im 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, Clusters attorney Chloe Dallaire told the Journal-Constitution.  Cluster and his wife are seeking to have the hospital compensate them for medical bills and emotional damages.    The post Man sues hospital after staff allegedly lost 28-square-inch piece of his skull and then billed him to pay for a synthetic replacement appeared first on Linda Ikeji Blog.