Surgeons Suspended For Leaving Patient on Operating Table

Look, it's not brain surgery—if you've got an important appointment, make a note of it in your calendar. Yet one big shot neurosurgeon at North Shore University Hospital on Long Island apparently had better things to do on April 10th, when he left his patient all prepped for surgery with nowhere to go. (To be fair, it can be difficult to get a good tee time at Fresh Meadow Country Club.) Dr. Paolo Bolognese, who reportedly makes about $2.4 million a year, was suspended for two weeks from the hospital after leaving his anesthetized female patient out cold on the operating table with her head shaved. It's unclear where exactly he was, and when staffers failed to locate Bolognese, they turned to chief of neurosurgery Thomas Milhorat ($7.2 million a year). But he refused to step in because the patient wasn't his. So Milhorat was also suspended, but the two MIA MDs seem to be making the best of it; a hospital receptionist tells the News they're in Italy attending a medical conference and, naturally, can't be reached.