Doctor Leaves Surgical Instrument in Woman's Uterus

You can get £1M+ for spilling hot coffee on yourself....

get him struck off the medical register as well.

She has every right to sue this physician for negligence. An instrument count is always done before and after a procedure. I can only assume this doctor was in too much of a hurry otherwise this problem would have been caught before the patient was awakened from anesthesia. And then to tell this woman to take pain meds and deal with it is atrocious. Her pain could have been caused by a number of things and she should have at least had an x-ray or ultrasound to see if there may actually be something causing her pain. I’ve been called into the operating room on several occasions because the pre and post instrument counts did not match. Yes sometimes things get sewn up inside someone and the x-ray will locate the item in question and it is removed before complications can arise. All surgical items are either radiopaque or have a radiopaque strip on them so they can be identified on an x-ray for this very reason. I hope she wins her case.

I've heard too many cases like this. I don't know if the doctors are too busy or just don't care but something really has to be done.

btw will this lawsuit be considered as a malpractice lawsuit?

this happened in 2002?

Wouldn't the case be all settled by now?

Should have some type of substance that will show up on an x-ray. That way before the pt is closed up a simple x-ray show if they missed something. Aparenty they are unable to count to a back up is needed.

too many doctors and nurses are required to work insanely stupid hours, especially when they're interning, could just have been a case of tired rather than anything more malign... definitely a malpractice case however..

I have seen operations on catv and one thing I saw a doctor do before closing up was count all the sponges and surgical instruments that where used, he had an inventory of all the tools before he started. It is not being tired, it is not be carefull.

well, to be fair, the show you saw on tv was most likely choreographed specifically FOR tv. I'm quite sure that the doctors in the shows you are watching aren't being filmed at the end of a 24hr shift, something which unfortunately does happen. I'm not condoning being tired as an excuse, I'm just offering it as an alternative to the doctor being a bad doctor.

That said, I think his approach of "deal with it" is borderline criminally negligent under the circumstances.

Not being fully versed in what the responsibilities of everyone in a surgical team, I can't say who's responsibility it is to make sure that all sponges, instruments, etc. are accounted for, but it seems a little strange to me that the doctor would be the one responsible for that...

What if it was a sharp object of some sort, I think this doctor should be put out of bussiness. this is just stupid