Doc abandoned surgery patient to cash check

[antiquity]

Doc abandoned surgery patient to cash check

by Michael Lasalandra
Thursday, August 8, 2002


A Cambridge orthopedic surgeon had his license suspended by the state medical board yesterday for leaving the operating room during spinal surgery - to go to the bank to cash a check.

Dr. David C. Arndt of Mount Auburn Hospital was found to pose an ``immediate threat to the public health'' after he allegedly abandoned a patient already under anesthesia with an incision on his back to go to a Harvard Square bank.

The surgeon bolted - and left the patient in the hands of a less experienced surgeon - after asking several times by phone ``if his check was there yet,'' board documents state.

He later told another doctor that he was having a financial crisis ``and needed to cash a check.''

Arndt said he had to get to the bank to pay some bills and that the surgery had gone longer than he had expected, the documents state.

The incident, which occurred July 10, was reported by an anesthesiologist who told a supervisor that Arndt had left the OR and had been gone 15 minutes.

``The supervising anesthesiologist observed the patient in a prone position with an open incision on his back,'' reads an affidavit filed by Brendan M. Finnegan, an investigator for the Board of Registration in Medicine.

The supervisor later was told that a nurse in the OR had overheard Arndt tell a sales representative from a medical device company that ``he was going to the bank.'' The surgical staff did not know when he would return, documents state.

The staff then called in the chiefs of orthopedics, surgery and anesthesiology ``to come up with a game plan,'' he charged.

Arndt came back after being gone for 35 minutes and finished the spinal fusion surgery.

Arndt was suspended by the hospital the day after the incident.

While the patient was not harmed, the supervising anesthesiologist said that the patient's safety had been jeopardized, Finnegan said.

Arndt had asked a less experienced orthopedic surgeon, who had just ``dropped in'' to the operating room, if he could cover for him while he ``took a break,'' the affidavit states.

The other surgeon agreed, even though he was not credentialed or experienced in the type of procedure that was being performed, board documents state. He said later that he thought Arndt was just going to the bathroom.

The other surgeon also had to delay another operation he was supposed to do for five hours as a result, the documents say.

Arndt's surgery was about three-quarters finished when he left, the documents state.

When an anesthesiologist told Arndt that his actions constituted abandonment of the patient, the surgeon seemed ``surprised,'' Finnegan said.

Arndt, a 1992 graduate of Harvard Medical School, has been licensed in Massachusetts since 1993. He also has privileges at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, New England Baptist Hospital and Newton-Wellesley Hospital.

According to the board, Arndt said he regrets what he did and ``exercised remarkably horrible judgment.'' Neither Arndt nor his attorney could be reached for comment yesterday.

According to the affidavit, Arndt started asking a nurse around 3 p.m. ``if she would call his office and ask for Bob.'' Apparently, that was code for whether his check had come in.

The general orthopedic surgeon eventually brought Arndt his check at 6 p.m., when he left for the bank, the documents state.

While he was gone, he was paged several times without a response, the affidavit charged.

Arndt apparently left with the sales rep, who said he drove the surgeon to a bank in Harvard Square and waited for him in his car while he went in to cash his check.

When Arndt returned after being gone 30 to 40 minutes, he closed up the incision and then performed some skin grafts. The operation did not end until after 8 p.m., the documents state. It began about 9 a.m.