Lili Elizabeth Schindelar

I am a dentist with 42 years of clinical practice sharing my experience as a patient. On March 6, 2023, Dr. Lili Schindelar performed surgery on my left wrist while she was an orthopedic fellow, under the supervision of attending surgeon Dr. Hervey Kimball. I was conscious throughout the procedure under regional anesthesia with no sedation. Immediately prior to incision, I heard Dr. Schindelar state to Dr. Kimball that she had just returned from vacation, had forgotten her surgical loupes, and would have difficulty seeing the operative field. I then heard Dr. Kimball respond that my wrist was going to be “junk anyway” and instruct her to proceed with the surgery. During the operation, fixation hardware was placed and fluoroscopy followed. After reviewing the imaging, I heard Dr. Schindelar state that she did not like the way she had positioned the hardware and that she wanted to remove it and revise the fixation in a different location. Dr. Kimball responded that the positioning was… “good enough.” Dr. Schindelar disagreed and proceeded to remove the hardware, perform additional surgical manipulation, and reposition it during the same surgical session. I later reported what I had heard during surgery. I was told that my recollection could not be trusted, despite the fact that I had not been sedated. My concern relates to surgical readiness, visualization, intraoperative decision-making, and supervision at the time the procedure began. Being aware, in real time, that the operating surgeon had acknowledged difficulty seeing due to missing optical aids and that surgery proceeded regardless was deeply unsettling as a patient. I am sharing this experience so that others can make informed decisions about their care and understand how issues of surgical preparation and supervision were handled in my case.