Surgeon Fined Over Leaving Patient in Operating Room Prep to Eat in Car, Falling Asleep, Missing Procedure

The head of spine surgery at Boston Medical Center has been fined over a 2016 incident in which he fell asleep in his car and missed a procedure.

The Boston Globe reports Dr. Tony Tannoury, 54, has been fined $5,000 after he admitted to missing an emergency ankle surgery one evening in November 2016 because he left the hospital to go eat in his car, where he fell asleep. State regulators have ordered  Dr. Tannoury to complete five continuing education classes in “professionalism.”

According to a consent order released Monday by the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine, Dr. Tannoury “left the OR when the patient was being prepped for surgery and before the surgery began, intending to get something to eat prior to performing the surgery.” He exited Boston Medical Center, “bought something to eat in his parked car, and fell asleep in the vehicle.”