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30 U. Haw. L. Rev. 167 (2007-2008)
Medical Malpractice in Hawai'i: Tort Crisis or Crisis of Medical Errors

handle is hein.journals/uhawlr30 and id is 171 raw text is: Medical Malpractice in Hawai'i: Tort Crisis or Crisis of Medical Errors? I. INTRODUCTION Midway through an operation on Arturo Iturralde's spine at the Hilo Medical Center, surgeon Robert Ricketson realized that the titanium rods he intended to implant were missing from his surgical kit.' Rather than wait ninety minutes for the missing parts to be flown over from Honolulu, Dr. Ricketson sawed apart a stainless-steel screwdriver and implanted a piece of the shaft into Mr. Iturralde's spine.2 A week after the January 29, 2001 surgery, the screwdriver shaft broke.3 Corrective surgery was required, which was also performed by Dr. Ricketson.4 In the days after the first surgery, no one informed Mr. Iturralde or his family about the improvised nature of the procedure.5 In fact, the only reason the incident was ever disclosed was that a nurse retrieved the pieces of the screwdriver from the trash and took them to local attorney Robert Marx.6 The nurse later told the Honolulu Star Bulletin, I just knew they were going to take the screwdriver out and put the right rod in and never tell anyone.7 Mr. Iturralde later had to undergo two additional corrective surgeries.8 These follow-up surgeries caused nerve damage that left Mr. Iturralde, an ordained Baptist minister, incontinent and paraplegic and contributed to his death in 2003 at the age of seventy-six.9 Mr. Iturralde's family sued Dr. Ricketson and the Hilo Medical Center, which had given Dr. Ricketson surgical privileges despite a number of red flags.' Dr. Ricketson had previously been sued for malpractice seven times, paying one plaintiff $1.3 million after Dr. Ricketson severed a number of I Rod Thompson, Jury Sides with Patient Who had Screwdriver Put in Back, HONOLULU STAR BULL., Mar. 14, 2006, at Al [hereinafter Thompson, Jury]. 2 Sally Apgar, Medical Mayhem; Malpractice Complaints Dog a Former Big Island Surgeon, HONOLULU STAR BULL., July 15, 2003, at AI [hereinafter Apgar, Medical Mayhem]. 3 Thompson, Jury, supra note 1. Apgar, Medical Mayhem, supra note 2, at A9. 5 id. 6 Rod Thompson, Surgeon Improvised with Screwdriver, Jury Told, HONOLULU STAR BULL., Feb. 10, 2006, at B3 [hereinafter Thompson, Surgeon]. Apgar, Medical Mayhem, supra note 2, at A9. 8Id. 9 See id.; Thompson, Surgeon, supra note 6, at AI. o See Apgar, Medical Mayhem, supra note 2, at A9; Thompson, Jury, supra note 1.