Thread by @BostonGlobe

The longtime head of spine surgery at Boston Medical Center has been reprimanded by state regulators and fined $5,000 for leaving an operating room before the start of an emergency surgery to go eat in his car, where he fell asleep and missed the procedure.bostonglobe.com/2021/10/27/bus…

On Nov. 22, 2016, a patient came to the hospital needing emergency ankle surgery.

Tannoury and a chief resident took the patient to the operating room at 9:30 p.m.

Tannoury left the hospital before the surgery began, bought something to eat in his parked car, and fell asleep.

Dr. Tony Tannoury, 54, admitted that he woke up in his car that November night in 2016, called the teaching hospital, and was told that a chief resident had performed the operation he was supposed to oversee.

bostonglobe.com/2021/10/27/bus…

In a recent ruling, the state Board of Registration in Medicine concluded that Tannoury, who was the attending surgeon for orthopedic trauma emergencies that night, had “engaged in conduct that undermines the public confidence in the integrity of the medical profession.”

The board ordered him to complete five continuing education credits in “professionalism” and review regulations for supervising residents.

It took nearly five years for the matter to be made public.
bostonglobe.com/2021/10/27/bus…

Dr. James Rickert, who is president of the Society for Patient Centered Orthopedics, said Tannoury’s actions were egregious.

He also said the medical board reprimand and $5,000 fine were inadequate and came too long after the incident.

“That’s just the proverbial slap on the wrist,” Rickert said. “I can’t believe that if that was a board composed mostly of patients that they wouldn’t have had a much harsher penalty.”

Four of the five members of the state board are physicians, according to the board’s website.

A year before the incident, BMC officials had discussed Tannoury’s work in a @GlobeSpotlight report that focused on a handful of orthopedic surgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital who juggled two operations at once without informing patients.

apps.bostonglobe.com/spotlight/clas…

In 2019, the state medical board tightened regulations for surgeons who leave operating rooms before operations end, including when they are managing overlapping procedures.

Read more: bostonglobe.com/2021/10/27/bus…