On Wednesday, the New York Post's Andrea Morabito spotlighted Dr. Sanjay Gupta's appearance on CNN's New Day earlier in the day, where he issued a "clarification," as he put it, about apparently mixing up two earthquake victims he treated during the aftermath of the April 2015 earthquake in Nepal. Morabito noted that Dr. Gupta is "now under fire for some Brian Williams-like exaggerations of his surgical exploits." [video below]
The correspondent cited a report from the website Global Press Journal, which reported that "Gupta, a neurosurgeon, bragged about performing a lifesaving brain operation on a young girl in the aftermath of the devastating Nepal earthquake in April, but misidentified his patient in a dramatic video report the network aired." The website noted how the CNN journalist stood "near a stretcher holding a girl the network identified as Salina Dahal, 8," and how Dr. Gupta reported that Dahal "has a fractured skull, a blood clot, and her brain is swelling."
However, according to Global Press Journal, "Salina never had brain surgery — or surgery of any kind — and was treated only for a broken wrist and some minor head wounds...Gupta did assist in a brain operation on another girl, Sandhya Chalise, 14."
During the Wednesday segment on New Day, the CNN doctor-correspondent tried to explain to anchor Chris Cuomo how the mix-up might have occurred:
CHRIS CUOMO: On Monday, Nepal suffered yet another aftershock of the 7.8 magnitude quake that struck on the morning of April 25 that you may remember. Now for more than two months since, CNN has been following this story. Now, Dr. Sanjay Gupta was there on the ground in Kathmandu soon after the disaster – not only reporting on the trouble, but doing something about it – performing lifesaving brain surgery on a girl.
Sanjay joins us this morning with an update on the patient he operated on. Good morning, my friend.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA: Good morning, Chris. You know, it's such a privilege to be able to do that kind of reporting, and hard to believe there's still aftershocks going on in Nepal. You know, this – this girl that we reported on – it was – reported on an eight-year-old girl, at that time, that I was asked to perform an operation on. She – the understanding was that she had a blood clot on her brain that need to be removed, because that can cause swelling in the brain.
What has been flagged for us now, Chris, is, in fact, that the patient that I operated on may not have been this eight-year-old girl – but rather, separately, a 14-year-old girl in that same hospital during that immediate aftermath of the earthquake. You know, we haven't independently verified this, Chris. But, you know, I wanted to provide this update, and be very transparent. These – these facts are very important to us. We want to be 100 percent accurate in that. And this is what we're hearing. We're trying to independently verify exactly which child it was. They got the operation. At that time, there were many children – many people in the hospital – but we're working to verify that. But, Chris, it was really important that I speak today, and just offer this – this clarification as we know it right now.
CUOMO: Understood. You're no stranger to chaos. You've been in the worst the world has to offer. What do you say as an explanation to the viewers of how something like this can happen?
GUPTA: Well, you know, it's – it's tough to say. You know, the – when you think about reporting these types of stories, it is a chaotic situation. You – you land in a country; you're there; and you're, sort of, trying to figure out exactly what's going on in the first few hours after you get there. In this situation, we went immediately to this – this big city hospital that – you know, was unlike anything I'd really seen – and I've covered a lot of these types of stories. You have a lobby – a hospital lobby area that's turned into this massive triage area. We're talking to doctors. There's somewhat – sometimes, a little bit of a language barrier as well. I am told that there are six patients – all of them children – that are needing operations on their brain. We're looking at their scans. I'm being shown their scans.
So, it's – I'm just trying to paint a little bit of a picture for you, Chris. You know, frankly, again, we want to get these things 100 percent right. It's important, obviously, to – to the viewers. It's important to the families – you know, who are there undergoing this – suffering through this aftermath of the earthquake. So but – it's just – it's just a chaotic situation. When you report on these types of things, you take lots of different pieces of information and consolidate it. And in the end, you tell the story. You know, there was still a girl that needed an operation. That operation was performed. I'm happy to tell you that, based on what we're hearing, both girls – the eight-year-old girl and the 14-year-old girl – are doing well. They both survived this, and are back home now with their families. So, there's a little bit of good news here. But I wanted to make sure that we could clarify exactly what happened.
CUOMO: Understood., and it's good to learn of her condition as well. All right – my colleague, but also as you know, Sanjay, you are my friend, and we are all fans of yours.
The anchor then read his network's statement on the issue, which anchor Michaela Pereira also responded to:
CUOMO: Now, CNN has released the following statement on this story: 'Journalism is not brain surgery. But brain surgery is brain surgery. We are so proud that Sanjay was one of the few reporters in Nepal that covered the earthquake; and while there, was asked to help save a young victim's life. As we reported, he assisted the surgeons at the Bir Hospital by performing a craniotomy on a young victim. Some reporting has suggested it was not the young girl we, at the time of our own reporting in the midst of crisis, believed her to be. We will try to verify that, as always. Regardless, Sanjay spent a week in Nepal, helped save a young life in the operating room, and we could not be prouder of him. He has our full and unequivocal support.' Mick?
MICHAELA PEREIRA: An Amen to that.
Near the end of her write-up for the Post, Morabito pointed out that "a CNN spokeswoman released a statement indicating that Gupta might not have been fully aware of who was on his operating table, the Global Press Journal said. Gupta was asked to assist in a craniotomy on a 'young girl,' the spokeswoman says, but adds, 'All the patient information including name and age was provided to Dr. Gupta by the hospital,' the website reported."
