Urologist reads wrong CT scan, removes patient's healthy kidney

Urologist Ankur Parikh, MD, removed a patient's healthy kidney after reading the CT scan of another patient with the same name by mistake.

Both patients had the same name and received the same CT scan of the abdomen and pelvis on the same day, according to a report from Worcester’s Telegram & Gazette newspaper. Parikh viewed the scan without checking the patient’s date of birth and told the patient he had “a large tumor” that needed to be removed. The patient was then informed of the mistake after a pathologist found the kidney to be healthy.

The Massachusetts Board of Registration recorded three mistakes on the part of Parikh: he did not verify the patient’s date of birth before viewing the CT scan, he failed to review the CT scan the day of the surgery and he proceeded to remove the kidney despite observing it wasn’t as heavy as a kidney should be with a significantly large tumor.

Parikh has received a reprimand from the state board after he admitted to the error in a consent order.

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