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For countless individuals, few moments are as anxiety-inducing as the time before surgery. Ideally, the extensive training and expertise of surgeons should alleviate such fears, allowing patients to trust their lives to medical professionals. However, surgical mistakes, termed 'never events,' happen approximately 80 times weekly, as reported by American Medical News. The following 10 cases highlight some of the most unfortunate surgical outcomes in history.
10. A Man’s Ultimate Horror
In November 1999, 67-year-old Hurshell Ralls underwent a procedure at the Clinics of North Texas in Wichita Falls to remove his bladder after a biopsy confirmed bladder cancer. Tragically, the surgery didn’t stop there. Upon waking, Ralls was devastated to discover that his penis and testicles had also been removed during the operation.
Ralls was neither consulted nor gave consent for the amputation. The surgeons involved asserted that while removing his bladder, they believed the cancer had spread to his penis. However, they skipped confirming this by taking tissue samples, deeming it unnecessary based on their professional judgment. A subsequent examination by a Dallas doctor revealed no evidence of penile cancer. Unfortunately, reconstructive surgery was impossible due to insufficient remaining tissue.
The surgeons faced no disciplinary action or license suspensions. Ralls chose to file a lawsuit against both the doctors and the clinic. The case was eventually settled out of court for an undisclosed sum. However, no financial compensation could ever restore what Ralls had lost.
9. Wrong Baby
In 2016, Jennifer Melton welcomed her healthy baby boy, Nate, at the University Medical Center in Lebanon, Tennessee, near Nashville. Shortly after birth, Nate was taken to another room for what Jennifer assumed was a standard checkup. Later, a nurse informed her that Nate had been mistakenly identified as another child and subjected to an unnecessary frenulectomy, a procedure where the skin under the tongue is clipped. This is typically done to address 'tongue-tie,' a condition that can lead to feeding and speech issues.
The doctor responsible admitted the mistake, explaining he had requested the wrong child and apologized to the family. He reassured Jennifer that Nate 'barely cried' during the procedure. The Meltons plan to sue the hospital for damages once Nate receives a Social Security number. The long-term effects of the unnecessary procedure remain unclear.
8. Incorrect Limb Amputated
In 1995, 52-year-old Willie King was scheduled for surgery to remove his diseased leg at the University Community Hospital in Tampa, Florida. As Dr. Ronaldo R. Sanchez proceeded with the amputation, the operating room nurse, while reviewing King’s medical records, began trembling and crying. It was then that Dr. Sanchez realized he was amputating the wrong leg. By that time, however, he concluded it was too late to reverse the procedure.
Dr. Sanchez attributed the mistake to the condition of King’s legs, both of which he claimed were diseased, as well as errors by other hospital staff. He also noted that the wrong leg had already been prepped for surgery by the time he entered the operating room. This wasn’t the first incident involving Dr. Sanchez; a previous patient accused him of amputating her toe without consent during a procedure to remove infected tissue from her foot.
Ultimately, Dr. Sanchez was fined $10,000 and faced a 140-day suspension of his medical license.
7. Four Years of Agony
In 2007, 56-year-old Carol Critchfield had a routine hysterectomy and bladder-support surgery at Simi Valley Hospital in California. Three days post-surgery, she returned to the hospital with severe abdominal pain. After an X-ray, doctors attributed her discomfort to extreme constipation, deemed her condition non-critical, and discharged her.
In 2008, while at work, Critchfield experienced sweating, blurred vision, and eventually fainted. She was rushed to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with a gastrointestinal issue and advised to avoid spicy foods. Once again, she was sent home. Her symptoms persisted for years afterward.
In 2011, she began suffering from vaginal bleeding, which doctors linked to an ovarian cyst. During surgery to remove her ovaries, the surgeon discovered a large mass. It was revealed that a sponge had been left in her abdomen during the 2007 operation, which had become enveloped in scar tissue. This led to the removal of a significant portion of her intestines after four years of obstruction.
Critchfield filed a lawsuit against Simi Valley Hospital and five of its physicians. In 2014, she reached a settlement for an undisclosed sum.
6. Incorrect Kidney Removed
In 2013, a 76-year-old dialysis patient underwent surgery to remove a failing kidney at New York’s Mount Sinai Medical Center, a renowned teaching hospital. Shockingly, the surgeon removed the wrong kidney, a grave and life-threatening mistake. The hospital withheld the names of both the surgeon and the patient, and security blocked news reporters from filming outside the facility, likely to protect the institution’s prestigious reputation.
Mount Sinai officials attributed the error partly to the patient having “two bad kidneys.” Despite this, the surgeon was dismissed, even though the patient defended him. The patient underwent another surgery to remove the correct failing kidney and address the mistake.
5. Neurosurgery Mishap
In 2013, 53-year-old Regina Turner was scheduled for brain surgery on the left side of her head at St. Clare Health Center in St. Louis, Missouri. The procedure involved a craniotomy, where part of the skull is removed to access the brain. Tragically, the surgeon, Dr. Armond Levy, operated on the wrong side of her head. After realizing the mistake, Turner was stitched up, and the correct surgery was performed six days later, but irreversible harm had already occurred.
Turner was left with a severe speech impairment and required constant care. She sued the hospital and Dr. Levy for negligence. The following year, she reached an out-of-court settlement with the hospital for an undisclosed sum. Dr. Levy, who no longer works for SSM Health, faced no disciplinary action for the error and continues to practice medicine.
4. Incorrect Patient
On November 20, 1998, 66-year-old Adesta L. Hytha was scheduled for a lumpectomy to remove a small tumor and surrounding tissue from her left breast at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida. The surgery was performed by Dr. Charles E. Cox, a renowned surgeon and head of the facility’s breast cancer program. However, Hytha woke up to find her left breast completely removed.
Dr. Cox explained to Hytha and her son, Stephen, that he had discovered additional cancer during the procedure, necessitating the full removal of her breast. However, this was false. In reality, Hytha had been confused with another patient scheduled for a mastectomy. Worse, she wasn’t informed of the mistake until 10 days later. Dr. Cox denied misleading her.
An internal investigation revealed that the error stemmed from multiple factors, including staff bringing the wrong patient into the operating room and Dr. Cox failing to review Hytha’s chart before surgery. Hytha chose not to sue the hospital and settled for an undisclosed amount. The hospital offered breast reconstruction, but she declined.
3. Incorrect Organ Removed
In October 2011, 32-year-old Maria De Jesus, 21 weeks pregnant with her fourth child, underwent an appendectomy at Queen’s Hospital near London. The surgery was performed by trainee Dr. Yahya Al-Abed, who was supposed to be supervised by Dr. Babatunde Coker. However, Dr. Coker was unaware the surgery was happening as he was eating lunch. During the procedure, De Jesus began bleeding heavily, and Dr. Al-Abed mistakenly removed her ovary, believing it was her appendix.
Three weeks later, De Jesus, still suffering from untreated appendicitis, returned to the hospital in excruciating pain. After the mistake was discovered, she underwent another surgery but tragically died on the operating table. Her son was delivered stillborn. Her official cause of death was multiple organ failure caused by septicemia, resulting from the untreated infection in her blood.
Both surgeons were found guilty of “serious misconduct.” However, a tribunal ruled that they did not pose a “danger to the public,” allowing them to continue practicing medicine.
2. Incorrect Eye Removed
In 2015, Fernando Jonathan Valdez, a one-year-old in Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, Mexico, was diagnosed with advanced congenital cancer in his left eye. After unsuccessful chemotherapy, his left eye needed to be removed. However, the surgeon mistakenly removed his healthy right eye, leaving the cancerous eye intact and rendering the child permanently blind.
The parents reported the incident to the police, prompting an internal investigation at the Medical Unit of High Specialty Mexican Social Security Institute. They also hired a lawyer, sued the hospital for negligence, and filed complaints with the National Commission of Human Rights and the Medical Arbitration Commission. The surgeon was suspended and investigated. Regardless of the lawsuit’s outcome, the boy will never regain his sight.
1. Incorrect Testicle Removed
Benjamin Houghton, a retired Air Force veteran, was diagnosed with metastatic testicular cancer in 1989. Instead of opting for surgical removal, he chose chemotherapy, which was successful. Over time, his left testicle atrophied due to cell death, causing significant pain and increasing the risk of cancer recurrence.
On June 16, 2006, Houghton decided to have his atrophied left testicle removed at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center. To his shock, the surgeon mistakenly removed his healthy right testicle instead.
Houghton, 47, and his wife Monica, 39, filed a lawsuit against the VA, seeking $200,000 for future healthcare costs and additional damages. Beyond the emotional trauma of losing his manhood and sexual drive, Houghton now faces potential health issues like depression, weight gain, fatigue, and osteoporosis due to the loss of testosterone his healthy testicle would have provided.
