Surgeon suspends practice after failing to insert stent

A neurosurgeon in Suqian, Jiangsu province, has suspended his medical practice after he was found to have not placed a stent in the brain of a patient during an operation in April, even though he claimed the operation was successful.

The doctor, surnamed Qi, "is currently suspending his medical services", and the exact date of the resumption of his work is "unclear at the moment", said staff at Suqian First Hospital where the doctor works, as quoted by a health news outlet affiliated with People's Daily.

According to a separate report by news website ThePaper.cn, in early May, a patient surnamed Zhu was sent to a local hospital for emergency treatment due to a severe stroke. However, through a CT scan, Zhu's son discovered that the stent that Qi claimed had been successfully implanted into the blood vessels in his father's brain in April had "disappeared".

The son said that it was only at this time that the doctor admitted that he did not successfully implant the stent.

"To be honest, I have done so many surgeries and very few have failed. At that time, the stent was not inserted. I feel very embarrassed," Qi said in a recording provided by Zhu's son.

"I imagined after the surgery that everything would still be OK because the patient's blood vessels after the surgery were very good and the blood flow was sufficient without the stent," said the doctor.

In March, Zhu was hospitalized at Suqian hospital for repeated chest pains. The hospital's website says that it is the only comprehensive public Class-III Grade A hospital in the city, and officially opened in 2016.

Zhu's son said he was informed that if they did not undergo intervention, his father could die from a blocked artery at any time.

On April 6, Qi, as the main surgeon, performed the arterial stent implant on the 62-year-old, and told his family that the surgery was successful. The medical records following the surgery showed that Zhu's condition was stable, and his symptoms improved.

On April 10, Zhu was discharged from the hospital, with total medical expenses of more than 120,000 yuan ($16,800), including a 47,000-yuan imported intracranial stent.

In May, after the first round of emergency treatment in a local hospital, Zhu was transferred to the Suqian hospital and then a hospital in Nanjing for further treatment. However, he finally died of extensive damage to the brainstem caused by his stroke.

Zhu's son said that they will file a civil lawsuit against the hospital and medical staff for intentionally concealing the fact that the stent was not implanted, falsifying medical records and charging fees without implanting the stent.

The doctor and Suqian First Hospital both refused to accept an interview or comment on the case.