Man has his JAW removed by mistake after going to hospital to have wisdom tooth taken out

hollydolly

hollydolly

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London England
A man in Rome had his jaw mistakenly removed after a hospital confused him for a patient who was suffering from a deadly tumor.

The unnamed 35-year-old had gone into the Umberto I Dental Clinic in the Italian capital on May 20 to get his wisdom tooth removed, as well as a cyst in his mouth.

Dentists at the clinic carried out a biopsy on the cyst, but the results were reportedly swapped for those of a man suffering from a malignant tumor in his jaw.

So when the patient - who had been in good health - returned to the clinic a few weeks later to collect his results, he was shocked to discover that the growth was cancerous.

Due to the aggressive nature of the tumor, doctors told him he would have to undergo a jaw removal as well as chemotherapy.

The surgery left him with permanent damage to his face, including paralysis on the right side of his mouth.

But a month after the operation, when doctors carried out follow-up testing, they were more shocked to discover that the results for the deadly tumor had come back negative.

Doctors told him chemotherapy was no longer necessary, which made him grow suspicious over the legitimacy of the results.


Wanting a second opinion, the patient got the DNA of the biological material checked by a lab at the Catholic University of Rome.

The results confirmed that he was in fact not suffering from a deadly tumor, implying that the surgery he endured had never been necessary.

Speaking to Italian news outlet Corriere della Serra the man said: 'Even now I cannot describe my state of mind. I am alive, I am healthy, I do not have any fatal disease, but I have suffered a great deal'.

The patient has since filed a complaint for his permanent injuries, and his case is now being taken up by the Prosecutor's Office in Rome.

An investigation is currently ongoing to understand exactly how the mistake was made and who is to blame for the mix up.

Man has his JAW removed by mistake
 

More than a decade ago in my hometown in Germany an otorhinolaryngologist (ear, nose and throat doctor/ENT) did a tonsillectomy in the city's hospital. The child died after a short time of severe bleeding. Shortly after he operated a second child. It died also. The same happened to a third child soon after. Nobody did question the death of the first child and the second. It needed three dead children within some weeks to stop this physician from doing his work.

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It has been my experience that those working in the medical field get their wires crossed all too often. Hospitals can be very dangerous places, so whenever I am in one I always keep my guard up.
 
911 said:
Each time I had surgery done, the doctor or nurse would ask me “what are we doing for you today?” Maybe they should consider doing this also.
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I just had hernia surgery and that was my experience as well. Every health care professional that saw me pre surgery asked the same questions, name, birthdate, what procedure I was having done, and on what side of the body. Pre surgery before I received any drugs the doctor also marked the surgery location and asked me if that was the correct.

I was OK with all the redundancy.
 
Reminds me of that joke about the guy who needed one of his legs amputated. So he goes into surgury and the surgeon removes the wrong leg. So he has to go back for surgury again to have the other leg removed.

So of course he sues the Doctor.

But the Judge rules against him. Tells him he doesn't have a leg to stand on.

I first heard that one back in medic training in the Air Force. The instructor did a better job of telling it than I did. He had us all thinking it was a real case until the punch line.
 
Trade said:
Reminds me of that joke about the guy who needed one of his legs amputated. So he goes into surgury and the surgeon removes the wrong leg. So he has to go back for surgury again to have the other leg removed.

So of course he sues the Doctor.

But the Judge rules against him. Tells him he doesn't have a leg to stand on.

I first heard that one back in medic training in the Air Force. The instructor did a better job of telling it than I did. He had us all thinking it was a real case until the punch line.
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It actually was a real case about 20 years ago and led to medical personnel marking the area that was to be operated on. I think it was Florida where this happened.
 
Teacher Terry said:
It actually was a real case about 20 years ago and led to medical personnel marking the area that was to be operated on. I think it was Florida where this happened.
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I heard about that as I was living in Florida at the time. But I think it was just the guy's foot, not his whole leg. However the joke is much older than that as I first heard it in 1970.
 
Sounds like production line medicine with staff that can't wait to go home. Probably doesn't help that many doctors spend little time with the patients.
 
hollydolly said:
A man in Rome had his jaw mistakenly removed after a hospital confused him for a patient who was suffering from a deadly tumor.

The unnamed 35-year-old had gone into the Umberto I Dental Clinic in the Italian capital on May 20 to get his wisdom tooth removed, as well as a cyst in his mouth.

Dentists at the clinic carried out a biopsy on the cyst, but the results were reportedly swapped for those of a man suffering from a malignant tumor in his jaw.

So when the patient - who had been in good health - returned to the clinic a few weeks later to collect his results, he was shocked to discover that the growth was cancerous.

Due to the aggressive nature of the tumor, doctors told him he would have to undergo a jaw removal as well as chemotherapy.

The surgery left him with permanent damage to his face, including paralysis on the right side of his mouth.

But a month after the operation, when doctors carried out follow-up testing, they were more shocked to discover that the results for the deadly tumor had come back negative.

Doctors told him chemotherapy was no longer necessary, which made him grow suspicious over the legitimacy of the results.


Wanting a second opinion, the patient got the DNA of the biological material checked by a lab at the Catholic University of Rome.

The results confirmed that he was in fact not suffering from a deadly tumor, implying that the surgery he endured had never been necessary.

Speaking to Italian news outlet Corriere della Serra the man said: 'Even now I cannot describe my state of mind. I am alive, I am healthy, I do not have any fatal disease, but I have suffered a great deal'.

The patient has since filed a complaint for his permanent injuries, and his case is now being taken up by the Prosecutor's Office in Rome.

An investigation is currently ongoing to understand exactly how the mistake was made and who is to blame for the mix up.

Man has his JAW removed by mistake
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WOW.......and they were just going to try to sweep that under the rug.
 
This reminds of a few years ago when doctors were making so many mistakes, people were marking parts of their bodies to be operated on.
 
Oldeagle66 said:
This reminds of a few years ago when doctors were making so many mistakes, people were marking parts of their bodies to be operated on.
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like i said earlier, last month when I was in hospital to have surgery, the surgeon marked the area on my body where the surgery was to take place
 
Timely, I just had a knee replacement this week. As someone else said earlier - each new person that I encountered at the surgery center asked me what I was there for starting with the receptionist that checked me in all the way up to the nurse(s) who pushed me into the operating room. The doc came around while is in the pre-op area and asked me also. He then used a special marker so sign my right leg and I had to write "yes" alongside his signature.
 
I don't understand why people have to die before something is done about these things!! It's especially terrible when it's children. God rest their little souls. My heart goes out to their parents who probably thought the surgeries were going to be routine. Where's the story about the man who had his jaw removed rather than a tooth?
 
OneEyedDiva said:
Where's the story about the man who had his jaw removed rather than a tooth?
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@hollydolly included a link in her original post. This happened in Rome, Italy.

Surgical protocols in the US have improved dramatically since we were kids. Before anything is done, wristbands are not only repeatedly checked and verified, but patients are questioned as to their names and DOB, asked to explain exactly what's being done, and their bodies are marked to clearly show what's being done, etc.
 
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OneEyedDiva said:
I don't understand why people have to die before something is done about these things!! It's especially terrible when it's children. God rest their little souls. My heart goes out to their parents who probably thought the surgeries were going to be routine. Where's the story about the man who had his jaw removed rather than a tooth?
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It’s right here.
Man has his JAW removed by mistake
 
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