Doctor not wearing hearing aids doesn’t notice colonoscopy patient screaming in pain

August 22, 2024 Sharon Banks

Dr. Ishwari Prasad, 84, who was performing a surgery on a Florida colonoscopy patient didn’t notice the screams of the patient because he was not wearing his hearing aid, according to findings by the Florida Department of Health’s Board of Medicine.

The incident occurred on June 5, 2023, at the Ambulatory Surgery Center Tampa and involved two colonoscopy procedures that were later deemed substandard.

Dr. Prasad, who has hearing impairments and usually relies on assistive hearing devices to communicate with his surgical team and patients, conducted the procedures without his hearing aid. This oversight critically affected his ability to properly carry out the surgeries.

One of the patients, referred to as R.F. in the complaint, experienced significant distress during the procedure when Dr. Prasad inserted the colonoscope before the patient was fully sedated. Despite R.F.’s apparent discomfort and audible cries, Prasad continued with the procedure, failing to stop even when it was clear that the patient had not been adequately sedated.

The board’s complaint stated that Dr. Prasad “fell below the minimum prevailing professional standard of care by performing a colonoscopy on a patient that had not been fully sedated, and/or by failing to utilize his assistive hearing devices, resulting in not being able to hear the patient.” As a result, the patient’s crying during the procedure went unnoticed.

In a separate procedure conducted on the same day, Prasad’s lack of communication with his staff, due to not wearing his hearing aid, further compromised the situation. When a hospital administrator instructed him to stop the procedure, Prasad leaned over the patient, shouted, “I know,” and continued inserting the probe.

The investigation also uncovered that Prasad had delegated tasks to a surgical technician that the technician was not licensed to perform, further contributing to the board’s conclusion of “medical malpractice.”

As a result of these findings, the Board of Medicine placed Dr. Prasad on probation, imposed a $7,500 fine, and ordered him to reimburse the department over $6,300 to cover the costs of the investigation.

Additionally, Dr. Prasad is now required to have another physician supervise his gastroenterology procedures and must undergo an evaluation to assess his “clinical competency.”

Dr. Prasad has a long medical career, having earned a Ph.D. in microbiology in the United Kingdom in 1967 and an M.D. in Mexico, before beginning his medical practice in the United States in the early 1980s.