A Plastic Surgeon Attended His Virtual Traffic Trial While Performing Surgery On A Patient

A California doctor shocked attendees at his virtual traffic trial by dialing in from an operating room while in the middle of performing surgery.

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Dr. Dennis Green was in an operating room when he appeared at his virtual hearing at Carol Miller Justice Center in Sacramento on Thursday afternoon, the Sacramento Bee reports.

The publication also shared footage from a live stream of the trial, showing Dr. Green wearing a face mask and scrubs with another doctor in the room, while machines could be heard beeping.

In the video, a courtroom clerk asked Dr. Green: "Are you available for trial? It kind of looks like you're in an operating room right now."

The doctor confirmed that he was in an operating room but that he was available for trial and to "go right ahead."

The clerk then advised Dr. Green that the proceedings were being livestreamed on YouTube and were open to the public, as traffic trials are required to be by law while physical access to courtrooms is being limited by the pandemic.

As Dr. Green waited for the judge to arrive on the call, he could be seen with his head down and appeared to be performing a procedure on a patient.

Once on the call, Sacramento Superior Court Commissioner Gary Link said: "Unless I'm mistaken, I'm seeing a defendant that's in the middle of an operating room appearing to be actively engaged in providing services to a patient. Is that correct, Mr. Green?" before adding: "Or should I say, Dr. Green."

After the doctor confirmed that was the case, Link responded: "I do not feel comfortable for the welfare of a patient if you're in the process of operating that I would put on a trial, notwithstanding the fact the officer is here today."

The doctor added that there was another surgeon in the room with him "so I can stand here and allow them to do the surgery also."

However, the judge refused to continue, saying he did not think that was appropriate and that he would come up with a different date for the trial when the doctor was "not actively involved or participating in … attending to the needs of a patient."

Dr. Green apologized to the court, saying that "sometimes surgery doesn't always go as ... " before trailing off.

The trial was postponed to March 4 at 3 p.m., with Link once again noting that he was concerned for the welfare of a patient based on what he was seeing.

The Medical Board of California confirmed to the Sacramento Bee on Friday that it would look into the incident, and that it "expects physicians to follow the standard of care when treating their patients."

Representatives for Dr. Green the Medical Board of California did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

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