diff --git a/hyracks-storage-am-btree/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/storage/am/btree/impls/BTree.java b/hyracks-storage-am-btree/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/storage/am/btree/impls/BTree.java
index 7dcfce2..0e48e04 100644
--- a/hyracks-storage-am-btree/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/storage/am/btree/impls/BTree.java
+++ b/hyracks-storage-am-btree/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/storage/am/btree/impls/BTree.java
@@ -254,6 +254,10 @@
             unsetSmPages(ctx);
             repeatOp = false;
         }
+        
+        if(ctx.opRestarts >= MAX_RESTARTS) {
+            throw new BTreeException("Operation exceeded the maximum number of restarts");
+        }
     }
 
     private void insert(ITupleReference tuple, BTreeOpContext ctx) throws HyracksDataException, TreeIndexException {