Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog

"We are at war with hierarchical, old-fashioned Japanese society," says Doctor A. "But we are doctors so it is our responsibility to put the dignity of patients first."

Mr. Cummings was operated on by doctors using a relatively new neurosurgery procedure called endovascular coiling, which involves threading a catheter from a vein in the groin to the aneurysm and using aluminum coils to block the flow of blood and stop it rupturing.

It is a complicated operation, beyond the competence of the two surgeons who performed it, says Dr. Matsuoka. "They broke hospital procedures for this kind of treatment." The procedures state that a four-doctor team was supposed to be present, but the two less-experienced doctors went ahead without notifying their colleagues.

The surgeons made a number of critical errors, including failing to inject medicine to stop bleeding in Mr. Cummings' brain, claim hospital staff. During the seven-hour operation, his blood pressure fell disastrously and he went into a coma from which he never recovered.

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