Dr. Charles Coonan Streit Disciplined by Medical Board for Removing Wrong Kidney
The California Medical Board has disciplined a Fullerton urologist for removing the wrong diseased kidney from a 59-year-old patient.
Urological Medical Group
of North Orange CountyDr. Charles Coonan Streit
Dr. Charles Coonan Streit, a Urological Medical Group of North Orange County specialist who received three years probation from the board, had his medical license for 41 years at the time of the February 2013 2012 surgery at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton.
Streit's patient, a federal prison inmate, emerged from the operation with his diseased left kidney intact and his healthy right kidney removed, according to the state Department of Public Health.
The patient had to undergo two more surgeries to correct the medical blunder.
Streit, who remains on staff at St. Jude, relied on his memory to determine which kidney was cancerous because he did not have complete medical records for the patient, concluded the medical board.
The board discovered paperwork the surgeon did have was incorrect. Scans showing the diseased left kidney were left in the office of one of the surgical team doctors that day.
St. Jude, which was fined $100,000 for the error last year, says it changed procedures to ensure such scans are in surgeons' hands before procedures.
Email: mcoker@ocweekly.com. Twitter: @MatthewTCoker. Follow OC Weekly on Twitter @ocweekly or on Facebook!
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