According to a report released by the state Department of Health, a Rhode Island surgeon recently operated on the wrong side of a patient's brain. The man was hospitalized in order to undergo a procedure to drain blood from his brain. Health officials say a CT scan image was improperly placed on an x-ray viewing box, leading the surgeon to believe the left side of the man's brain required surgery instead of the right. The surgeon discovered the error when he drilled holes in the left side of the man's skull and found no internal bleeding. The procedure was correctly repeated on the opposite side of the patient's head.

According to hospital officials, the patient did not suffer any serious adverse effects from the operation. The National Quality Forum lists wrong-site surgery as the number one preventable medical error. The Rhode Island Department of Health says the doctors, nurses, and assistants involved failed to follow hospital policies.