Saints fire doctors after misdiagnosis

The New Orleans Saints have fired team orthopedists Deryk Jones and Misty Suri after a leg injury to top cornerback Delvin Breaux was misdiagnosed, ESPN’s Mike Triplett reported Wednesday.

According to Triplett’s source, Breaux’s injury originally was thought to be a bruise, but after his leg was slow to heal, it was discovered he had a fractured fibula that will require surgery and cause him to miss four to six weeks.

Triplett and NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport say the Saints players have not been happy with their medical care for some time, and Triplett reported that Saints head coach Sean Payton “was livid” over Breaux’s misdiagnosis.

The New Orleans Advocate reported earlier this week that the Saints were looking to trade Breaux, a New Orleans native who played for two seasons with the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats, over frustration with his nagging injuries. But “they no longer appear as eager to trade or part ways with him” after learning of the misdiagnosis, Triplett reports.

Jones and Suri work for Ochsner Health Systems, which has been a corporate partner of the Saints for nearly 10 years, according to a recent company news release announcing that Ochsner had been awarded naming rights to the training facility shared by the NFL team and the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans.

Suri also is listed as a team physician for the Pelicans in the NBA team’s most recent media guide. Jeff Duncan of the New Orleans Times-Picayune says the Pelicans have been frustrated with their medical staff for nearly a decade.

Suri was regarded highly enough to be asked to work the 2016 Pro Bowl.

In 2011, Jones and Suri performed surgery on Payton after he suffered serious leg injuries in a sideline collision during a game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.