State seeks to punish interventional radiologist who operated on wrong patient
The Florida Department of Health is seeking to punish an interventional radiologist who reportedly operated on the wrong patient, according to a recently filed complaint.
It’s asking the local Board of Medicine to impose one or more penalties against Jose Antonio Rodriquez, MD, for an incident that reportedly occurred back in Jan 2019. Possible recourse could include suspension or revocation of his license, practice restrictions, a fine, or other action, Florida officials wrote Jan. 22.
Rodriguez, 50, was working as the on-call interventional radiologist during the night in question when the trauma medical director texted him to insert an inferior vena cava filter. When asked the name of the patient, the director gave a last name starting with “B,” according to the complaint.
However, on Jan. 5, 2019, Rodriguez allegedly placed the filter in an 80-year-old patient with the initials VW, rather than CB.
State officials did not elaborate on what went wrong. Rodriquez reportedly has a clean disciplinary record on a license first issued in December 2006, the Miami Herald reported Thursday. The radiologist did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the newspaper.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.