Edina doctor punished for taking out wrong kidney

[okarol]

Edina doctor punished for taking out wrong kidney

By PAUL WALSH, Star Tribune

Last update: January 15, 2010 - 2:57 PM
A veteran Edina doctor has been disciplined for removing the wrong kidney of one patient during cancer surgery and for taking a biopsy from another patient's pancreas, rather than a kidney, a few months later.

Dr. Erol T. Uke, a urologist, has been reprimanded and indefinitely barred from inpatient surgery by the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice, the board said Thursday.

Uke, 59, signed the disciplinary ruling when it was issued Saturday, which includes his agreeing that his misconduct justifies the board's action.

Uke could not immediately be reached for comment. His attorney, Paul C. Peterson, said in a statement, "Dr. Uke is very sorry for the medical errors that occurred here. The isolated conduct involved is not representative of the high quality of care he has provided to thousands of patients during his career.

A state report issued in the summer of 2008 on this case, while not naming Uke, said that while performing the surgery in March 2008 at Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park he removed the wrong kidney from a cancer patient because he was distracted by beeper calls and other patients when he made the original mistake in the patient's chart.

Uke also said he failed to read the radiologist's notes to ensure he was operating on the correct side, according to a report by the state's Office of Health Facility Complaints.

Hospital spokesman Jeremiah Whitten declined to reveal anything about the identity or the fate of the patient, citing "patient and personnel privacy restrictions."

The state report revealed that the patient had subsequent surgery at another hospital to try to remove the tumor and save his remaining kidney.

The erroneous biopsy followed about four months later, the Board of Medical Practice said. The board report did not say where that surgery occurred or what the future has held for that patient.

The board lists no other disciplinary action in the state taken against Uke.

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