Doctor Fired For Warning Lap-Band Patients

An NYU Medical Center doctor was fired for anonymously calling lap-band patients the night before their surgery to warn them that they might die. Surgical resident Neelu Pal saw one patient die from the surgery in 2006, and took it upon herself to warn patients about the procedure—even if she had to lie about her identity! One patient told the Post Pal disguised herself as an operating room nurse and told her she "had watched many patients die from the procedure" and said to "think about having the surgery someplace else."

Pal has filed a whistleblower suit against NYU, claiming her bosses, Drs. George Fielding and Christine Ren-Fielding, were not giving patients proper post-operative care. Dr. George Fielding operated on Jets coach Rex Ryan, who seems to be doing fine. The doctors described Pal's behavior as an "attempt to scare patients into canceling their treatment" and an "egregious example of unprofessional and irresponsible behavior."

Lap-band recipient Rhonda Freiberg died in 2006 of a heart attack just 36 hours after being operated on by George Fielding, and the Department of Health found they had failed to properly monitor her after surgery. The doctors had also previously admitted that some of the doctors in their employ were unlicensed. Pal is now a law student in New Jersey.

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By Jaya Saxena in News on June 6, 2010 4:50 PM

Comments [rss]

Andrew Jhonson

There are a number of advantages to having the Lap-Band surgery performed as a weight loss option. The first advantage deals with the surgery itself, as the procedure is minimally invasive Also having repercussions as well.

Pal what you did that's not fair enough. I am also planning to have this surgery but at this time i am scared. Collecting information regarding with this surgery Also gone resources like www.FreeLapBandSurgery.com and www.LapBandTalk.com they both are really fantastic to have great information. In future also do collect information about medical practitioner who performed Lap Band surgery.

Thanks

just saying

Negligent, inadequate post-operative care and unlicensed doctors? (Isn't it illegal for an unlicensed doctor to even be practicing?) Athough the lawsuit only concerned the one specific patient who died, it does raise the question of how many other patients luckily didn't die, but experienced avoidable complications due to inadequate care.

And all this happened at NYU Medical Center which is ranked as one of the top 20 hospitals in the US! How can this be? (One has to wonder what goes on at lesser institutions.) It appears NYU Medical lost their lawsuit, but it's surprising they weren't also fined or sanctioned by the Board of Health.

angry_pickle

According to US News ranking, to the question "Whether patients would recommend the hospital to friends and family", 69% said yes. The national average is 68%. 6% said definitely or probably no which is the same as the national average. Yale was ranked below them but Yale had a 74% affirmative answer and a 5% negative answer.

Ishtar

US News is a subpar news org that shouldn't be in the business of ranking anything.

Manitoba

Sounds like Pal is exactly the kind of doctor that medicine needs the days; instead of performing unnecessary surgeries to drum up cash for poorly managed hospitals, she was actually trying to help patients understand that surgery is scary and that they could quite easily die.

Instead, the hospital covers up its previous failures and fires one of the honest ones (apart from her lying about her identity).

Kudos modern medicine!