Who is Scott Green? Sacramento plastic surgeon attends virtual court trial while performing surgery on patient
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA: A plastic surgeon appeared for his traffic violation trial in scrubs as he performed a procedure on one of his patients. The entire trial was live-streamed as it was required by law that traffic-related trials be open to the public.
This incident occurred on Thursday, February 25, and a screenshot from the zoom video conference being live-streamed was shared by Sacramento Bee. The Medical Board of California, on the other hand, said that it would look into the incident and also make sure that the surgeon who appeared for the trial from his operation unit, Dr Scott Green, will be investigated.
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The trial was held by the Sacramento Superior court virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic. This was a procedure put in place to ensure public safety while also keeping citizens actively practicing social distancing. However, Dr Green joined the video conference call during a surgery procedure. In fact, when the court clerk asked him if he was available for the trial, he said yes and he also confirmed that he was aware of the trial being live-streamed.
At the virtual trial, he was seen dressed in surgical scrubs with a patient undergoing a procedure just out of view. The noise from the machines in the operation room could be heard in the background. “Hello, Mr Green? Hi. Are you available for trial?” asked a courtroom clerk as an officer summoned to appear in trial raised her eyebrows. Everyone who was part of the trial was surprised and that was visible in the live stream.
Despite Green confirming that he was available for the trial, the courtroom clerk wanted to ensure that he was indeed ready to appear for the trial while the entire process was being live-streamed. The clerk said, “It kind of looks like you’re in an operating room right now?” To this, Green responded, “I am, sir,” and added, “Yes, I’m in an operating room right now. Yes, I’m available for trial. Go right ahead.”
Not only did he appear for the trial in his scrubs but he also reportedly appeared to be continuing the procedure while he was taking part in the trial. He continued to wait for the Court Commissioner Gary Link to enter the chamber while working on his patient. When Link did appear in the chamber and saw the doctor on the screen, the judge hesitated to go ahead with the trial as planned.
He was concerned for the welfare of the patient and voiced his concerns to Dr Green who yet again seemed complacent. He also confirmed that there was another doctor in the room with him who could take from him when required. Dr Greene said, “I have another surgeon right here who’s doing the surgery with me, so I can stand here and allow them to do the surgery also."
Link, the judge on the case did not think that was appropriate and if it was a conducive environment to conduct the trial. He was also extremely worried for the patient's well-being and hence he said that he would rather set a new trial date instead of proceeding with Dr Green in his scrubs while he performed a procedure.
Link said that he would rather confirm the trial dates for “when you’re not actively involved or participating and attending to the needs of a patient.” Green apologized and also tried to explain “Sometimes, surgery doesn’t always go as,” before the judge interrupted him.
“It happens. We want to keep people healthy, we want to keep them alive. That’s important,” Link said. According to Associated Press, the board said it would look into the incident, saying it “expects physicians to follow the standard of care when treating their patients.”
As of now, details regarding the case that Dr Green was tried on or if the procedure that he had been performing was an emergency were not confirmed.