A man is suing a hospital in Atlanta, Georgia after doctors allegedly lost a piece of his skull. Unable to retrieve the osseous omission, hospital staff ended up having to rebuild the patient’s cranium with a custom-made synthetic implant - and he was charged thousands of dollars for the procedure, according to a legal complaint.

The alleged incident occurred when Fernando Cluster was admitted to Emory University Hospital Midtown in September 2022 after experiencing a brain hemorrhage. To relieve pressure on his brain, doctors performed a hemicraniectomy, removing a section of skull measuring 12 by 15 centimeters (4.7 by 5.9 inches).

Such procedures are typically carried out in emergency situations, when swelling and bleeding of the brain become so severe that the threat of compression and brain damage needs to be addressed. 

Typically, the excised portion of skull is then kept in a freezer for a period of time while doctors wait for the swelling to go down, at which point it is reattached to the patient. In the meantime, patients are usually given a protective helmet to wear in lieu of a fully intact cranium.

However, according to the complaint, surgeons’ mislabeling of body parts meant they were unable to identify Cluster’s bone when the time came to re-implant it some six weeks later. 

“When Emory’s personnel went to retrieve the bone flap, ‘there were several bone flaps with incomplete or missing patient identification’ and therefore, Emory ‘could not be certain which if any of these belonged to Mr. Cluster',” explains the legal complaint filed by the patient and his wife.

As a consequence, the Clusters say they had to pay for the manufacture of a synthetic implant, which was then used to cover the hole in his skull. To make matters worse, the newly attached flap then became infected, resulting in a need for additional surgery.

Despite being allegedly responsible for misplacing the skull fragment, the complaint said Emory made no bones about charging Cluster for the synthetic implant, the surgical procedures, and the extra time that he had to spend in hospital. According to the legal complaint, this resulted in the patient and his wife having to pay $146,845 in medical expenses thanks to the hospital’s negligence.

The couple are now seeking compensation for the hole left in their pocket, arguing that Emory failed to provide  “ordinary and reasonable care” when dealing with Cluster’s skull.