As part of an investigative series on a highly-paid neurosurgeon with a history of malpractice, The Duluth News Tribune explores why St. Luke’s Hospital in Duluth, Minn., didn’t heed warnings that the neurosurgeon was a risk to patients.
The first part of the investigation, which ran in May, described the rise of Stefan Konasiewicz, MD — once the hospital’s highest-paid physician who has also been sued nine times for malpractice. Physicians and staff from St. Luke’s said Dr. Konasiewicz posed a risk to patients, but the hospital continued to allow his practice, according to the report.
The second part of the investigation details a roundabout chain of communication within the hospital. Peter Goldschmidt, MD, an orthopedic surgeon and colleague to Dr. Konasiewicz, said he voiced concerns over the neurosurgeon’s rate of errors to the hospital’s senior administration, including the CEO, in the early 2000s. He said nothing seemed to change after his complaints and he never received follow-up from the administration, according to the report.
Last week, the newspaper spoke to CEO John Strange, who has led St. Luke’s since 1996. He said responsibility for taking action against Dr. Konasiewicz lay with the hospital’s physicians, according to the report.
During Dr. Konasiewicz’s time at St. Luke’s from 1997-2008, the hospital went from red to black — a finding the newspaper links to his continued practice. He produced significant revenues for the hospital by performing more neurosurgeries than his Duluth peers. In 2004, neurology admissions accounted for nearly 25 percent of the hospital’s 5,780 surgical admissions, according to the report.
Read The Duluth News Tribune report on Dr. Stefan Konasiewicz and St. Luke’s Hospital.
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