SEACAUCUS, N.J., June 26 (UPI) -- A New Jersey doctor had his license suspended for two years after he operated on a patient's wrong lung then covered up by lying and altering documents.
Santusht Perera also was fined more than $80,000 by the state Board of Medical Examiners in a lengthy review and appeal process that lasted more than eight years. He can appeal to have his license restored in six months, the Newhouse News Service reported Thursday.
Perera reportedly opened patient Richard Flagg's chest and removed portions of the patient's right lung during a September, 2000 surgery at Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center in Secaucus. A later pathology report found no cancer in any of the lung tissue removed.
The state said the surgeon should have removed portions of the left lung, where cancer was documented -- but the error precluded any surgery on the cancerous lung. Flagg soon required an around-the-clock oxygen supply.
