A detailed account of a surgery I have never performed
This account was submitted by a healthcare provider and de-identified before publication. Details that could identify a patient or practice have been removed, and it is shared with the provider’s consent.
A graphic review described a surgical complication in detail, including a specific operation and a difficult recovery.
The procedure described is one I have never performed, and no patient in my records matches the account, so my best guess is that it was either intended for another surgeon or fabricated by someone with a motive I cannot identify. I cannot publicly say "this never happened," because denying a patient relationship is itself a disclosure I am not permitted to make.
A vivid, frightening story about a surgery I did not do sits at the top of my search results, exactly where a nervous pre-op patient will find it, and referrals from two primary care offices dipped for a quarter. What unsettled me most was how real and specific it read, because fabricated detail is far more damaging than vague complaint.
I reported it repeatedly and received the standard non-answer. There was no way to disprove a fiction I am legally barred from naming.