Bellevue, a renowned public hospital in Manhattan, has recorded putting thousands of low-income patients through bariatric surgery every year, and their doctors’ salaries are partially based on the frequency of surgeries.
Two doctors from the hospital reported to the Times that in their efforts to rack up a high number of surgeries, bariatric surgeons have been reported to occasionally ask equipment technicians to scrub in and help with the surgeries, as they have an insufficient number of medical assistants. The technicians who assisted worked for an external vendor called Surgical Solutions and were not officially licensed to treat patients or perform surgery.
Surgical Solutions did not respond to the Times’ request for comments on the issue.
Following the allegations, the NY health agency has started an inquiry into the practices at Bellevue which could eventually lead to a formal investigation of the hospital.
“We are reviewing your allegations and will pursue action as appropriate if the facts warrant it,” commented Christopher Miller, a spokesman for Bellevue who stated that the inquiry was a precautionary action and may not require a further investigation into the hospital.
According to the Times’ informants from Bellevue, this is just one of the numerous examples of misconduct that has been occurring there. They reported that two surgeons once raced to see who could complete the most surgeries in a day, and anesthesiologists reduced doses of pain medication so that patients could wake up from surgery sooner and operating rooms could clean out faster.
In an effort to increase their surgery count even more, Bellevue allegedly recruited patients from Rikers Island jail complex who had almost no chance of maintaining the required diets and lifestyle after their surgery, leading many of them to become malnourished as a result.
Executives for the Health and Hospitals Corporation, an NYC based agency that oversees Bellevue’s practices, emailed Times’ employees to let them know “the article left out important context,” in response to the first article published on the matter. The executives praised the bariatric surgery department for offering thorough medical care and reasonably priced, high-quality services for low-income patients.
However, there have still been scarce comments made from Bellevue itself.
