A man from Georgia is suing a hospital in Atlanta after it allegedly lost a large piece of his skull after a routine procedure, and billed him a colossal amount for a synthetic replacement.
Fernando Cluster, 62, was admitted to Emory University Hospital Midtown in September 2022 after suffering an intracerebral hemorrhage, also known as a brain bleed.
Doctors decided to remove a 4.7 by 6 inch piece of his skull – almost 28 square inches – to relieve the pressure on his brain, which would then be replaced at a later date once the brain had begun to heal.
However, according to a complaint filed on August 8, when Cluster returned two months later to have the piece of his skull replaced, medics were unable to find it.
According to the complaint obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, hospital staff had written in Cluster’s medical file: “We inspected the freezer where bone flaps are stored and could not find a bone flap with Mr. Cluster’s patient identification.
“There were several bone flaps with incomplete or missing patient identification, but we could not be certain which if any of these belonged to Mr. Cluster.”
Cluster was then forced to leave the hospital without the hole being filled, leaving him with a depression in the right side of his skull, until a synthetic piece of skull could be created.
The synthetic skull fragment was inserted into Cluster’s head by the end of November, but he was horrified when he saw that he had been charged $19,000 for it – despite it being the hospital that had mislaid his original piece of skull.
And things unfortunately did not get much better for Cluster when the synthetic bone was inserted as he contracted an infection, which led to him requiring another surgery and was unable to work for some time.
By the end of the ordeal, Cluster’s total medical bill was over $146,800, and he claims the hospital never offered him and his wife any discounts for the treatment.
Cluster’s attorney Chloe Dallaire told the Journal-Constitution: “While my clients are obviously upset that they and their insurance company were billed for the costs related to Emory’s negligence, I’m sure you can understand that their focus is on the egregiousness of Emory losing a part of his body and then having a flippant attitude about it afterwards.”
The couple said in a statement shared by Dallaire, via Law & Crime: “It is shocking that a medical provider like Emory would lose part of one of its patient’s skulls and then refuse to accept responsibility.
“We now have to live with the consequences of Emory’s negligence, including daily fear about another infection in my head and medical costs.
“We want to know if this has happened to other patients to see if they have been given an explanation by Emory. Our goal is to make sure this never happens to another patient again.”
He and his wife are now seeking compensation from the hospital for their medical bills as well as emotional damages they say were caused by the ordeal.
