Dave & Chuck the Freak talk about a man who is suing a hospital in Atlanta after they lost a part of his skull in between surgeries and ended up charging him thousands of dollars for a replacement.
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00:00You don't want, while you're in the hospital, waiting for an operation for them to go,
00:12Oh, we have lost something.
00:16No, we have lost something.
00:18Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
00:19Your skull bone.
00:20My skull bone?
00:22We've lost your skull bone, sir.
00:23Sorry about that.
00:24Well, you better find it.
00:25That nothing feels not right.
00:27Nothing is a real weirdo.
00:30Calm down, sir.
00:31We'll find you.
00:32No, we got to calm him down.
00:36He's going.
00:38Oh, I was going to say the name of that story from earlier.
00:39And I will not.
00:41No, do not.
00:42I will not.
00:43But you better be careful who you choose to do these things.
00:48I need all my bones.
00:49A hospital in Georgia lost a piece of a man's skull after removing it during surgery for a brain bleed.
00:57Jeez.
00:58They took it out to ease the bleed, and then they lost the bone.
01:02That's crazy.
01:04They lost it.
01:05Yeah, I mean, I guess you're going to have to fashion me a bone.
01:08He's now suing the hospital, of course.
01:10Here's the story on this from 11 Alive News.
01:12An Atlanta couple is now suing Emory Healthcare, accusing doctors of losing a piece of a man's skull in between surgeries.
01:20This all started back in 2022.
01:22Oh, no, guys.
01:23Oh, you need that bone to keep your skull looking good.
01:28I hope he's suing for a lot of money.
01:30It's so much of his skull.
01:32It's not just a little 50-cent-sized piece.
01:35It looks like someone hit that side of his head with a sledgehammer.
01:37Oh, my goodness.
01:39Oh, you need a skull bone.
01:40You don't want to wake up and they're like, sorry, we lost your skull.
01:44Chuck, you may not want to look in the mirror for a little bit.
01:48Why not Dave?
01:48No, you just, I would just.
01:50No, no, no.
01:51Why not Dave?
01:52No, you're talking like a pirate, but.
01:55Why not Dave?
01:56You, um, you just, I would be best to avoid the mirror.
02:00Just for the next few days.
02:02Let me see myself.
02:04Fine, take a look.
02:05You ready?
02:05I'm not an animal.
02:06You ready?
02:06Take a look.
02:08Quick, touch him in the squishy part of his head.
02:10He'll go right to sleep.
02:12He's out.
02:13He's out.
02:14He's out.
02:15He's out.
02:17Oh, my God.
02:18Yeah.
02:18I mean, this is like one-fifth of this man's head.
02:21Yeah.
02:21It really is.
02:22It's gone.
02:23It's real denty now.
02:24How did you lose that?
02:25I don't know.
02:26You're a bad hospital.
02:27You're a bad hospital.
02:28I don't know what you've done.
02:29Somebody snapped that picture.
02:30They were like, this is the one.
02:34Three of the shows.
02:35Wake me up first before you show the rest of my head.
02:40Don't have me sleep in there.
02:41Maybe I can't wake up.
02:43I don't know.
02:43You send this to an attorney.
02:45I don't know.
02:46I mean, that's the one.
02:47I'm like, hold on.
02:49Send this one.
02:50The attorney's dancing like, yeah, money.
02:53Money.
02:54Three pictures.
02:55Money.
02:55Yeah, he's styling his hair.
02:56Missing skulls, bone money.
02:58Losing skulls, making bank.
03:00Yeah.
03:021-800-NO-SKULS.
03:03But here's the crazy part.
03:05They charged him.
03:061-800-NO-SKULS.
03:08Oh, man.
03:10Have you lost your skull?
03:11I have.
03:12Well, then you got to call me.
03:14Chuck the Freak saved me $19,000.
03:17That's right.
03:191-800-NO-SKULS.
03:20I called him, you should too.
03:23So many people lose his skulls.
03:26They charged him $19,000 to build him a new one.
03:29Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
03:32No, no, no.
03:33That's got to be free after you lose mine, for sure.
03:37That's got to be free after you, whoops, lost it.
03:40Here's the story.
03:41In 2022, these are photos of Fernando Cluster in his hospital bed following surgery to treat an intra-cerebral hymage.
03:50Now, it's when Fernando and his wife claimed the hospital lost part of his skull and then charged them more than $19,000 to artificially recreate it.
04:0011 Alive's Angelina Salcido is following this story for us tonight.
04:03She joins us live now from Emory Healthcare in Midtown.
04:05So, Angelina, the couple's lawyers telling you Fernando's skull was not the only body part in his place?
04:11What?
04:12What?
04:13Well, Joey, you hear that, and it's even hard to fathom that a mix-up like this would happen.
04:18The lawyer says that a note in her client's medical file let them know that he was not alone.
04:24Now, this all started back in September of 2022, when Fernando Cluster fainted and was left with a very serious brain bleed.
04:31A few weeks later, he would be ready to go into surgery, but doctors would tell him that that piece of skull that they removed so his brain could heal was gone.
04:40They're scared. They're terrified.
04:41Fear it could happen again.
04:43Attorney Chloe Dallaire, representing Fernando Cluster and his wife, trying to get the truth.
04:48She's the lawyer from 1-800-NO-SKULL.
04:50No-SKULL.
04:51They got various contradictory messages about why surgery was postponed, and ultimately, Emory told them that they had lost and misplaced a part of his skull.
05:00This note in his medical file shows doctors couldn't find a bone flap with clusters identification, and several others were incomplete or missing patient identification.
05:10It's mind-blowing, literally.
05:11Cluster would get a 3-D synthetic flap implanted weeks later.
05:16But that wouldn't be the last time that this couple found themselves at Emory Healthcare trying to fix Mr. Cluster's skull, and they would spend hundreds of thousands of dollars.
05:25So let's walk through it.
05:27In November of 2022, that first visit, they would spend at least $40,000, only to find themselves back at the hospital December of 2023 because of an infection and need to remove that flap.
05:38There, they'd spend more than $110,500.
05:42Oh, my God.
05:43March of 2024, they would come back to get a brand-new flap put in for $77,700.
05:50This is because you lost mine, yeah.
05:51In total, this couple would spend at least $228,200.
05:56Due to a simple act of negligence, something that was entirely preventable, he has to live the rest of his life in fear of getting an infection in his brain and in his skull.
06:07Now, Mr. Cluster is currently doing okay.
06:10We are looking forward to talking to him next week.
06:13I am told that that should be an interesting conversation that they're excited to hear.
06:17I'm sure it'll be an interesting conversation.
06:20I'm sure.
06:20Remind us to follow up on the Fernando Cluster interview.
06:24Yes.
06:24What else did he lose?
06:27Didn't they?
06:27They didn't say.
06:28I think they were basically saying they've lost other people's parts, that the other patient's stuff wasn't.
06:37So they basically take a skull, put it over there, and they were, like, supposed to write your name on it.
06:42And it just says, like, Steve.
06:44Yeah.
06:45And it's like, Steve who?
06:47We forgot to put a last name.
06:48I hope that's written in the reviews on Google, on this hospital.
06:52They lost my skull.
06:53Seems pretty bad.
06:54Somebody needs to.
06:55You can see that headline.
06:56They lost my skull.
06:57One star.
06:58Don't go here.
06:58They lost my skull.
07:00Just emojis, because that's all they could communicate.
07:02Oh, that's it.
07:03I just have, like, just that skull emoji, skull emoji.
07:06Poof, poof, poof.
07:10Sad face, sad face, sad face.
07:12Oh, my God.
07:14That's crazy.
07:15I mean, that needs to be out there.
07:18Did you think the lawyer was, like, take a picture of him where he looks like he's out cold, and then take a picture of him.
07:23Open your mouth.
07:24Open your mouth.
07:25Eating some soup.
07:26A little bit wider.
07:27Show your bottom teeth.
07:30You can make one.
07:31You guys, that's so horrible.
07:33Holy smokes.
07:34Looks like The Walking Dead.
07:37You need your skull.
07:38Look at that guy.
07:39You need it.
07:40And all the bills since have been because he got a bad replacement skull.
07:44Yeah.
07:45Yeah.
07:45And it's all their fault.
07:46And they just have a room full of skulls with, like, different just parts of people's names on them.
07:51And apparently this is a teaching hospital.
07:54Oh.
07:55Well, you don't want to go to that.
07:56No.
07:57No.
07:58Sometimes you go to that to save yourself a little bit of dough.
08:01Yeah.
08:01Some are okay, but.
08:03Yeah.
08:05Some are not.
08:05Some people.
08:06I would hate to find that out, like, in the middle of something, like, while my skull's off or whatever.
08:11Oh, yeah.
08:13Like, listen, we were training someone, and they were bad.
08:16They've lost your skull.
08:18No, not my precious skull.
08:19Because that's what's happened.
08:20Yeah.
08:20Yeah.
08:21That is what happened.
08:22Someone was, like, not really paying attention.
08:24Well, and the one they rebuilt was not great.
08:27No.
08:27Is this up?
08:28They got a lot of bad reviews.
08:30Yeah.
08:30Now, I have to assume that normally hospitals probably do get bad reviews.
08:35Hospitals get great.
08:37Hospitals get terrible reviews.
08:39Even, yes, I was going to say, yeah.
08:41Because the one that I would recommend for everyone to go to, it even has bad stuff.
08:46Because stuff happens.
08:47Stuff happens.
08:47Yeah.
08:48Right.
08:48And people have bad things happen at the worst parts of life, you know?
08:52Right.
08:52Yeah.
08:53And you're dealing with everybody at a hospital.
08:55Yeah.
08:55Now, I was at another one that's supposed to be good and sat in the waiting room for six
09:03hours or something.
09:03And then I went online and I was looking and I'm like, oh, yeah.
09:07It just, that's all it was.
09:08Like, just be prepared to wait.
09:11Oh, no.
09:11What is that?
09:12What was that?
09:12There's some real bad stuff up there.
09:14What was that?
09:14What was that?
09:15Some people have had some bad experiences.
09:17Someone else's skull?
09:17Let's just say that.
09:18But hopefully that man, well, they'll never find a skull now.
09:21But I hope they take care of him at least and he gets some of that 1-800 skull now.
09:26Yeah.
09:27He's going to.
09:27Oh, he's going to.
09:28I hope.
09:29I mean, I hope they win.
09:30He needs it.