A plastic surgeon in Lexington, Kentucky allegedly showed up drunk to a scheduled operation, resulting in him being arrested and taken into custody for public intoxication.
There are certain acceptable circumstances for being drunk, such as when celebrating New Year's Eve. Needless to say, it is inappropriate to be intoxicated right before you perform a surgery.
Lexington Surgeon Arrested For Showing Up Drunk For Operation
Dr. Theodore Gerstle had a scheduled operation at about noon on Jan. 15 at the Baptist Heath Lexington. However, hospital staff received reports that Gerstle was apparently intoxicated, according to Ruth Ann Childers, the spokesperson for the hospital.
After the chief medical officer confronted Gerstle on the allegations, the surgeon walked away from the hospital. Staff then called the authorities to report the incident.
Gerstle was then arrested after a short time, after he was found by the police near the facility.
According to Childers, Gerstle's scheduled operation had not yet started when the chief medical officer talked to him about the alleged intoxication. It is unclear what type of operation he was about to perform.
"Patient safety is always our number one concern, every day," said Childers. "We take these things very seriously and it will be thoroughly investigated."
Gerstle was brought to the Fayette County Jail on charges of public intoxication. The surgeon was not an employee of Baptist Heath Lexington, but held staff privileges and was tapped to perform certain procedures at the hospital. These privileges are suspended as the investigation into the incident unfolds, the hospital said.
Surgeon Horror Stories
Unfortunately, the drunken state of Gerstle before his scheduled operation is not the only surgeon horror story in recent memory.
In December, a surgeon admitted that he signed his initials on the livers of two of his patients using an argon beam, which is typically used for marking areas or stopping bleeding. The surgeon was recently charged with a £10,000 ($13,600) fine and a 12-month community order.
There were also recent reports of a woman from Washington who sued a hospital and the doctor who performed surgery on her, claiming that nude pictures of her were taken. The hospital claimed that the photos were a part of a prank, but the woman said that the pictures of her naked body were taken without her consent.
Another woman, from New York, sued a surgeon for talking on the phone while performing an operation on her. The situation resulted in emotional distress and panic, claimed the 70-year-old patient.
