ABC: Florida surgeon fined $3K for removing kidney he thought was tumor

Here’s one thing people don’t normally worry about when they go in for surgery: that their doctor knows what their organs look like and where they are. And yet, according to the Florida Board of Medicine, a West Palm Beach surgeon must now pay “a $3,000 fine for removing a woman’s healthy kidney that he thought was a tumor.”¹

NBC: All general surgeons quit at Children’s Hospital because of dead child and worse

In 2016, Ramon Vazquez cut Maureen Pacheco open so two other surgeons could perform back surgery. However, when Vazquez saw a kidney that had never ascended into her abdomen (he didn’t review her medical records prior to surgery) and believing it to be a cancerous tumor near her pelvis- removed it without her consent.

Vazquez was sued for malpractice and must now attend training on preoperative patient evaluation. Pacheco also sued the two primary doctors who each settled for $250,000.