VA Patient Has Wrong Testicle Removed

[Breeze54]

VA Patient Has Wrong Testicle Removed

At the West L.A. hospital the vet's healthy testicle is removed

instead of the potentially cancerous one. He and his wife file a claim.

http://www.latimes.com/features/health/medicine/la-me-veteran4apr04,1,92308.story?coll=la-health-medicine

From Associated Press
April 04, 2007 10:09 PM EDT

LOS ANGELES -

An Air Force veteran has filed a federal claim after an operation
at a Veterans Administration hospital in which a healthy testicle
was removed instead of a potentially cancerous one.

Benjamin Houghton, 47, was to have had his left testicle removed June 14
at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center because there was a chance it
could harbor cancer cells. It also was atrophied and painful.



COUPLE: Benjamin Houghton and his wife, Monica, hoped
to get the VA’s attention by going public with their situation.
(Ricardo DeAratanha / LAT)

But doctors mistakenly removed the right testicle, according to medical
records and the claim, which seeks $200,000 for future care and unspecified
damages. He still hasn't had the other testicle removed.

"At first I thought it was a joke," Houghton told the Los Angeles Times.

"Then I was shocked. I told them, 'What do I do now?'"

Houghton, his wife, Monica, and their attorney, Dr. Susan Friery, said
they hoped to get the VA's attention by going public with the situation.

Dr. Dean Norman, chief of staff for the Greater Los Angeles VA system, has
formally apologized to Houghton and his wife.

"We are making every attempt that we can to care for Mr. Houghton, but it's
in litigation, and that's all we can tell you," he said.
The hospital changed practices as a result of the case, he added.

-------------------

That is a terrible mistake! So glad they apologized. :sarcasm:
I've heard of similar atrocities in prominent hospitals.

That's why they write in purple, an L or an R, on the correct side... before surgery!!

[Hekate]

1. They "hoped to get the VA's attention by going public"?! They didn't have it before?!

:wow:

The good news is that he can have a prosthetic (yes) and can live pretty well with hormone therapy. Women do it all the time after hysterectomies and oophorectomies.

But that's one hell of a bad mistake.

Hekate

[Breeze54]

2. Er...if they removed the wrong testicle, then

I'm guessing they didn't have the VA's attention...considering the circumstances! ;)
I think they are trying to get the VA to pay attention to the wrong they visited on this Vet!
And now they want some compensation. I don't blame them one bit!

Cripes!! He still hasn't had the other testicle removed!!!

[Hekate]

4. That was pretty much my implication. The Vet(eran) would've been better off with a vet(erinarian)!

I hope he gets over the shock in time to get the other one taken care of soon, in the interests of his health.

Hekate

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

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[Breeze54]

5. LMFAO!!

Now there's a plan!!! :rofl:

[Berry Cool]

6. I don't get this. These days, if your body has more than one of ANYTHING,

and one of it is supposed to be operated on, the hospital gives the patient a marker before the surgery and makes the patient mark the part that's to be worked on/removed. That way the hospital can't be sued for operating on/removing "the wrong one."

This is true of things like breasts and knees...why would it not be true of, well...

OK, so maybe a marker wouldn't be the ideal means, but there'd have to be SOME way...