We trust doctors a lot when we lie under their hands on the operating table. More than once, we literally put our lives in their hands and hope that everything will go well. However, we certainly don't want to end up in a situation like the one the Englishman went through.
Tom Hadreas, who lives in England, underwent surgery in Brighton in 2016 At the Royal Sussex County Hospital. He was lying dazed in the recovery room when he heard the doctors discussing who the surgeon was. As it turned out, the surgeon was driving home when he realized what a mistake he had made:
He left a bag containing medical samples and a piece of intestine in Hadris' stomach.
The surgeon immediately turned around and took me back to the hospital, where he immediately rushed to the man. Hadreas was still sleepy when he heard the words, “We're so sorry, we made a mistake.” With that momentum, the doctor took him back to the operating room so his team could remove the samples and severed intestines from the man's abdominal cavity.
What happened led to a serious investigation, and the hospital admitted that Hadreas' recovery was delayed due to the error. They publicly apologized to the man and paid him £15,000, or 6.7 million Hungarian forints at today's exchange rate. However, the surgeon continued to work at the hospital.
“Our surgical staff is committed to providing the best and safest care to our patients, often in difficult situations. Surgeons do not work individually, but in teams, in collaboration with each other. These teams are highly trained and perform complex surgeries that are never without risk.” He told the BBC: “We constantly monitor their results, and when care falls short of our high standards, we immediately take steps to learn and improve.” Professor Katie Urch, Chief Medical Officer, Sussex University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Nearly eight years after having hernia surgery, Hadreas recently said what happened had a lasting negative impact on his health. “There's no doubt at all that I'm suffering. What happened has affected me. My stomach is so weak, I can't lift weights for example,” Tom Hadreas said.
(Ladbl)
(Cover image: Surgeons over a patient lying on an operating table. Illustration: Getty Images)
