Fayetteville, NC: Two local gynecologists received a stern slap on the wrist recently for attempting a Cesarean section on a woman that was not, in fact, pregnant.
In 2008, a rotund woman and her husband waddled into the ER of the local hospital. The woman, writhing in pain, told medical staff that she was in labor. She donned a medical gown, ordered a quarter-pound cheeseburger, and demanded a C-section.
Dr. Geri Geszler was the attending supervisor on call at the time. It was a resident in her charge, a Dr.
Dunston, that made the pregnancy diagnosis.
“She’s a big fan of Grey’s Anatomy,” Dr. Geszler said of Dunston. “I figured she’d watched enough episodes to know if a woman was pregnant.”
Dr. Dunston explained how she arrived at her diagnosis: “The woman had a very large stomach, which, duh, means she’s pregnant. And it rumbled. Like a heartbeat.”
The doctors attempted to induce labor, but to no avail. “He’s stubborn, like his Pa,” said the woman’s husband at the time.
An emergency Cesarean section followed, but to the doctors’ surprise, there was no baby. “It was just a lot of gas,” admits Geszler. The doctors sewed the woman back up and prescribed extra-strength Beano.
It wasn’t until recently that the doctors received the stern memo from the North Carolina Medical Board ordering them to retake Medicine 101 at their local community college and to read Pregnancy for Dummies.
Dr. Dunston is reported to still practice obstetrics in the Fayetteville area. “Babies are my specialty,” she explains, “I’m pretty good at gastroenterology, too.”
Dr. Geszler, however, has decided to focus on anti-aging medicine. When asked if they were concerned about Geszler’s new career path, the North Carolina Medical Board responded: “No, we’re not worried. Her new patients will already be suffering from dementia, so it’s unlikely they’ll know if she screws up.”
The patient who was misdiagnosed was awarded a hefty sum in a malpractice lawsuit filed against Grant and Geszler. The judge, however, also ordered her to learn how to use a home pregnancy test and to enroll in Jenny Craig.