It’s a dirty secret of the medical community that easily preventable errors happen all too frequently. Those in the know believe that roughly 200,000 patients die annually here in America because of medical errors that never should have occurred.
While medicine is not an exact science where results can be guaranteed, below are some egregious surgical errors that have happened in the past — and that it’s hoped will not occur again.
Transplant turned fatal
A patient received a lung and heart transplant from a donor with an incompatible blood type. The patient, a 17-year-old girl from Mexico who was here in the United States for medical treatment, died as a result of the medical mishap.
Wrong testicle removed
A veteran of the Air Force needed to have an atrophied and possibly cancerous testicle excised. But his surgeon at the VA hospital accidentally removed the healthy testicle.
Wrong leg amputated
Imagine the trauma of awakening from surgery to amputate your deceased leg only to discover that your surgeon had instead cut off the healthy limb instead. That’s what one man, 52, experienced.
Kidney removed instead of gallbladder
One senior citizen needed her gallbladder removed. However, the surgeon instead excised her healthy right kidney. Fortunately, she survived.
Not all surgical errors will rise to the level of most of the above operating room mistakes. But you do have the right to receive medical care, including surgery, that is free of obviously negligent errors. If things go wrong that should never have occurred during your surgery, you may want to explore your legal options.
