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Top 10 Terrible Mistakes Made By Surgeons

  • Surgical mistakes happen more commonly than people think
  • One in every three thousand surgeries will result in something being left in the body of the patient
  • Here are the most bizarre stories we have been able to dig out

1. Alex Mitchell of Massachusetts sued his surgeons after an Adept Med Fish was found still in his body after a routine hernia operation. The device is a foot long, and is made to protect the internal organs during the suturing phase. Mitchell suffered from severe pain, nausea, and vomiting, and had to have a second operation to remove the equipment. Jurors awarded Mr. Mitchell two hundred and eighty thousand dollars for his pain and suffering.

2. In Texas, a department of corrections inmate named Antonio Garcia had emergency surgery. After the surgery, six years to be exact, the man realized that he had a surgical needle still inside of him when he had a routine x-ray and the needle was visible on the film. A lawsuit was filed against Dr. Presley, who was the surgeon, and the hospital where the surgery took place.

3. In South Carolina, in the year 2004, pair of surgical scissors was left in a thirty eight year old woman after she underwent a hysterectomy. Experiencing pain, the woman went back to the doctor and then to the Emergency Room several times before ER doctors ordered an Ultrasound and CAT scan for her abdomen, and that is when the scissors became apparent. After undergoing surgery to have the object removed, she recovered just fine and the persistent pain stopped.

4. A forty one year old forklift driver named Robert Maxwell underwent bowel surgery at Skyline Medical Center, and kept experiencing severe pain and nausea for three weeks after the surgery. He finally went to the emergency room because the pain became unbearable, and doctors there discovered a piece of medicated gauze that had been left behind during his surgery.

5. A woman in Wisconsin underwent abdominal surgery for her appendix, and had severe discomfort for weeks afterwards. The pain started to dull down, and would come and go over the next few months. It was not until the woman went through an airport metal detector and scanner did anyone realized that she still had a large surgical clamp in her chest.

6. Daryoush Mazarei had lower abdominal surgery and did not recover well afterwards. He complained to the doctors and hospital about severe pain, and was told at one point to see a psychiatrist because his pain was mental. After a CAT scan, a ten inch steel retractor was found lodged in his abdomen and surgically removed.

7. Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland faced a lawsuit because of several items left behind after her surgery. The woman had surgery for a benign tumor, and the surgeon left behind pieces of plastic, sponges, and gauze, which was discovered six years later. The woman’s complaints of pain had been brushed aside by the doctor and hospital in the time since the surgery.

8. One woman in New York had a broken surgical scissor blade left in her abdomen that was not discovered for sixteen months after the surgery. The blade was accidently discovered after a car accident when the woman was given x-rays for a possible broken hip. The lawsuit was settled for one hundred thousand dollars.

9. At Jacobi Hospital in New York, a thirty eight year old woman had a cesarean section and surgeons left a laparotomy pad inside her abdomen. The mistake was discovered two years later when a sonogram was ordered for a pregnancy that the woman had. Surgery was required to remove the pad and this caused even more pain and scarring in her abdomen.

10. One surgical mistake which was settled for one hundred and seventy five thousand dollars involves a seventy two year old woman who had cardiac bypass surgery, and the surgeon left a surgical sponge behind her sternum which had to be surgically removed. This caused her to have an extended nine day hospital stay and extreme pain and suffering.

The information supplied in this article is not to be considered as medical advice and is for educational purposes only.

12 Responses to “Top 10 Terrible Mistakes Made By Surgeons”

  1. 1
    nickey burns Says:
    i have been in servere back pain for over 15 years docters telling me its nothin just take pain killers after i begged for an x ray for all them years of suffering the two people who xrayed my back ask me if i had any metal on me and also checked the bed for metal i told them i had major surgery 18 years ago on my kiddneys and bladder they said it could be a metal gauze when i ask them for more info about the picture and what they could see they said it may be a fault with the picture waiting to go to docters so i am very worried does anyone think i should pay private to have another xray thanks
  2. 2
    glenda Says:
    i went into hospital to have gallbladder surgery and woke up with a broke back never been the same since then had staph in stomach and a big knot came inside feels like babies leg and doctors think there is gauze been left inside stomach where they was packing it
  3. 3
    Sam Says:
    I don't know? We can sue.. but that doesn't stop it from happening..
  4. 4
    alex Says:
    What do we do to stop this from happening?
  5. 5
    Jeff F. Says:
    wow. it's scary to think that things can go wrong when you go under the knife. These are some pretty crazy examples!
  6. 6
    kris Says:
    Hey, at least none of these doctors were incompetent enough to order an MRI on a person with steel blade or surgical clamp still inside of them. Ever seen Alien? Yeah, not pretty.
  7. 7
    Steph Says:
    I feel so bad for those people. Scary!
  8. 8
    freshman Says:
    After reading this post I think that everyone who gets a surgery should go through the x-ray after that, just in case....
  9. 9
    Jeff Says:
    I think that this is absolutely irresponsible. these guys, surgeons i mean are the highest paid workers!!!! you got to do better than that, especially if you are dealing with people lives
  10. 10
    payton Says:
    Seems like doctors are never making other mistakes than forgetting tools in people bodies. I heard of one guy who was about to die because his doctors were giving him medicines for the wrong disease. what saved him is that he moved to another clinic
  11. 11
    Brigit Says:
    Oh I know, tell me about it! My greatest fear would probably be having the anaesthesia mess up and being able to feel everything!
  12. 12
    Toby Says:
    I've heard of so many gruesome things involving surgeries gone wrong. Can you imagine having a gauze pad left inside of your body?