Two Chicago Medical Centers Operate on Wrong Side of Patients’ Brains

Second Lawsuit Filed in a Month Against a Chicago-Area Hospital for Similar Negligent Surgery

Clifford Law Offices, on Wednesday, June 8, 2005, filed a lawsuit against a doctor and two nurses at the University of Illinois Hospitals in Chicago for negligently operating on the wrong side of the brain of a 35-year-old woman.

Rashida Aziz of Lombard was suffering from pain on the left side of her head. But on Dec. 27, 2004, Dr. Konstanin Slavin unnecessarily performed surgery on the right side of her brain before realizing he had not even checked the medical records to discover he should have performed the surgery on the left side of her brain. Days later, an operation was performed on the correct side of her brain.

"This is clear negligence where the surgeon and hospital personnel simply didn’t pay attention to a crucial detail," said Keith A. Hebeisen, partner at Clifford Law Offices who is handling the case. "Mrs. Aziz had an unnecessary and risky operation and suffered unnecessary pain and suffering as well as the risks inherent in a second surgery to correct their error."

The lawsuit follows an earlier one filed by Hebeisen and Clifford Law Offices last month when the identical mishap occurred. Elie G. Ghawi of St. Charles was admitted to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood on Sept. 4, 2003, for a surgery to cut one of his nerves in the right side of his brain in order to alleviate pain. Instead, Dr. Douglas E. Anderson negligently opened the healthy left side of Ghawi’s head before realizing he was operating on the wrong side. He then proceeded to operate on the correct side.

"These kinds of preventable mistakes should not be occurring if physicians and hospital personnel are doing their jobs and putting the patient first," Hebeisen said.