For the most part, doctors save lives, help people get better and make society a better place. Doctors are even one of the smartest members of our society, dedicating several years studying and devoting their lives to helping ours.
Despite this, doctors are still human and make mistakes. However, the risk involved when doctors make mistakes is literally life threatening.
Some of you may feel it’s unfair to blame doctors when 65% of Doctors are overworked. It could be argued that it’s not their fault. But if a patient has suffered as a result of someone being careless, it kind of is their fault. With more and more people claiming for medical negligence, these disastrous cases of medical malpractice might change your mind!
Doctor-in-training cut into the wrong side of a patient’s head
This trainee doctor went ahead and cut the wrong side of patients head after skipping a pre-op checklist. Talk about having a hole in your head, this takes this saying to a whole new level.
The poor patient was 86 years of age and had been admitted for neurosurgery after suffering an accumulation of blood between the layers of the brain.
When the doctor was asked why he didn’t take one last glance at the checklist, his response was “I thought I would have remembered”.
Pec Implant Horror
Joining the local gym to buff up the chest would be the first thing that would come to mind when trying to get a bigger chest. Not for this guy. In a bid to boost his confidence, Brett decided to get pec implants and this is what happened;
Not only did poor guy get what looks like wonky breast implants, he was left in excruciating pain. Unlike breast implants, pec implants need to be made from a special silicone to make them feel like muscle. He has even lost movement and flexibility in his arms.
Awake During Eye Surgery
Poor Carol Weiher had eye pain so bad she made the conscious decision to go in and have her eye removed. Believing this was the only way to get on with life. If that’s not bad enough her anaesthesia failed during her surgery and became the beginning of a living nightmare. She was unable to move, paralysed, unable to speak and had to endure a 5-hour surgery where doctors gouged away at her eye.
Being Burned Alive
A surgical flash fire caused a poor 65-year-old woman to die on the operating table. Unfortunately, this is more common than you might think. These accidents happen when sparks from electrical surgical tools interact with patients oxygen supplies.
The Wrong Testicle Removed
Poor air force veteran Benjamin Houghton had the balls to go to war, and when he came home had the wrong testicle removed, but was able to seek $200,000 for future care and unspecified damages. And only recently in 2016, a surgeon at Saint Vincents Hospital removed the wrong kidney because the patient had the same name as another patient!
The doctor just took the name for granted and did not check the patient’s date of birth to confirm. This is really how simple it can be for Doctors to make mistakes when the protocol is not followed.
Final thoughts:
Despite the unnoticed good work that doctors carry out on a daily basis, and despite their long hours, work overload and pressure. We as patients are at their mercy when on that operating table, and should be compensated for any medical negligence, hopefully not anything as gruesome as the above medical malpractice horror stories!
Fuente: bloke.ie
