GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (AP) – A leading brain surgeon is retiring after refusing to take over for an absent colleague as a patient waited under anesthesia in a New York operating room.

North Shore University Hospital said Friday that 73-year-old Dr. Thomas Milhorat is retiring from his clinical practice. He’ll continue academic and research activities.

The April 10 surgery was canceled at the last minute when Dr. Paolo Bolognese failed to show up. Both doctors were suspended for two weeks.

They have not commented. Crain’s New York says they are among the highest-paid physicians in the New York area.

It isn’t clear whether the patient ever had the surgery.