Zaidi Rifat MD

Rifat Zaidi permanently injured my left knee during a routine meniscectomy. Due to surgical error, I went from a competitive runner to now face a total knee replacement.
I am particularly offended that Zaidi lied about the outcome of the surgery. Against Zaidi’s orders the attending PA ordered an MRI and the result was an entire page of damage and pathology due to Zaidi’s incompetence. Zaidi’s remark was that ‘radiologists often misread MRIs’.
I followed up with the OA Portland Sports Medicine center where my knee was ‘scoped again and the surgeon (Dr. Brown) provided images of the series of deep gouges Zaidi inflicted on my knee using hand tools. The surgeon commented, ‘if this was your first surgery out of med school and you committed an error like this we would send you back to school.’ Zaidi never even repaired the initial injury, a simple longitudinal tear of the medial meniscus. Dr. Brown also said that the damage wasn’t repairable and that I would eventually need a prosthetic knee and he was absolutely correct.
The ‘topper’ was that during a follow up visit months after the surgery and I was still unable to walk unassisted I expressed my worry about reporting to duty as a federal agent. Hearing that, Zaidi started into an anti-​American rant about how he, a Pakistani, is hassled by federal agents and even said that in Pakistan American women are thought of as ‘w****s’, his exact word, in addition to other derogatory remarks about America.
Terry Garmey of Portland Maine handled the malpractice case, you are welcome to verify my story with him and with the Portland Sports Medicine facility who documented the malpractice. By the way, Mr. Garmey had Zaidi investigated and reported to me that Zaidi had previously left the US to return to Pakistan for 7 years, a time period Garmey noted coincided with the US statute of limitations.
Hopefully Zaidi isn’t still in practice.