Hospital Lost Part Of Man's Skull, Then Charged Him For Replacement, Lawsuit Says

A Georgia man who underwent surgery two years agofor a brain bleed and had to have part of his skull temporarily removed was then charged thousands of dollars after medical staff lost the bone and had to use synthetic materials to replace it, his attorneys said.

Fernando Cluster, 62, was initially admitted to Emory University Hospital Midtown in Atlanta on Sept. 30, 2022, and underwent a decompressive hemicraniectomy, a surgery to relieve pressure on the brain, according to a lawsuit filed earlier this month.

The lawsuit states that Cluster’s medical procedure involved removing a 12-by-15-centimeter portion of his skull, known as a bone flap. The bone flap was scheduled to be surgically replaced during a cranioplasty the next month.

However, Emory hospital workers were unable to find Cluster’s bone flap at the time of the follow-up surgery on Nov. 11, 2022, the lawsuit says.

The hospital did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for a comment and has so far not responded to Cluster’s claims in court filings.

Emory hospital staff had located the bone flap the day before Cluster’s surgery, but could not find it when preparing for the operation the next day, according to Cluster’s medical notes, which his attorney Chloe Dallaire shared with HuffPost.

“We inspected the freezer where bone flaps are stored and could not find a bone flap with Mr. Cluster’s patient identification,” the notes read. “There were several bone flaps with incomplete or missing patient identification, but we could not be certain which if any of these belonged to Mr. Cluster.”

Hospital staff told Cluster they had to reschedule his cranioplasty until a synthetic implant flap could be made, according to the lawsuit.

Dallaire said her client