Saturday, April 3, 2010

Doctor...I have this pain in my side......

 Here is a another Weird NEWS STORY, along with MY COMMENTS in bold italics:


PRAGUE (AP) — It took five long months for a Czech woman to discover the reason for her pain: Doctors had left a foot-long medical tool inside her abdomen. This month, doctors at a clinic in the southeastern town of Ivancice discovered their colleagues had forgotten to remove a spatula-like surgical instrument from the woman following gynecological surgery in September.
Top regional official Michal Hasek apologized to 66-year-old Zdenka Kopeckova and said Monday that the region, which is in charge of the clinic, plans to compensate her.
Clinic head Jaromir Hrubes blamed "a series of individual failures" and said four employees had been punished.
CT24 news television reported that the woman, who complained repeatedly to her doctors about the pain, plans to sue.
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1. WHAT???? Let's repeat this, shall we?  (Women reading this: you have my permission to sit, grab your abdomen, rock and to grimace now)....they left a FOOT LONG instrument inside her abdomen????

2.   She TOLD THEM SHE HAD PAIN...and it took "FIVE LONG MONTHS" to discover an instrument in her abdomen????  I am speechless!

3. A"spatula like instrument" ??? What the heck is THAT? Were they stirring her during surgery??

4. They "had forgotten" to remove a FOOT LONG instrument from her abdomen during surgery??? How does one forget a FOOT LONG instrument???  Much less a TEAM of people in an operating room? What the heck would have distracted them enough to FORGET A FOOT LONG INSTRUMENT in her abdomen? What was going ON in that operating room????

5. A "series of individual failures" occurred?  Like what? Were they all drunk? 

6. They were all "punished"? How?  Didn't they LOSE THEIR medical licenses???  They SHOULD have been made to have a FOOT LONG INSTRUMENT inside THEIR abdomens for five long months...with no one believing that they were having pain from it...

7. They had "plans to compensate her"?  I should hope so...and I hope it is a HUGE compensation...

8. It is stated that she plans to sue... she will probably win much more in a lawsuit than they could ever offer her up front.

9.  I would like to apologize up front to anyone who is planning any type of surgery in the next few months....I didn't mean to scare the beejeezus out of you.  Pretend you didn't read this, okay?
Oh, and have someone you love and trust count every single sponge and instrument they use in the Operating Room-----TWICE!!!

22 comments:

  1. I had surgery a while ago. They could have left a four foot long one in mine and I don't think I'd have noticed unless I'd dieted.

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  2. a spatula like instrument...its safe to say she will nt be hurting for money in the very near future...

    have a wonderful weekend!

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  3. That's pretty disgusting: first the leaving of it, and second, not finding it with an x-ray right away! I agree with you: it should be quite a huge compensation. I'm just glad she's all right.

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  4. Fran: hahahaaaaa.....don't worry, I am SURE you would've noticed a FOOT LONG INSTRUMENT! ha

    Brian: She'll be stirring a lot of change. ha

    DJan: I hope she is, they never really said, did they??

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  5. This must be a story and not real. Taking that long to find the problem remindes me of the medics taking three hours to tell if person was dead, really wouldn't you take the person in to a hospital and not sit there. Yiks

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  6. I wonder how it was positioned in her abdomen? If it was in there length-wise, I suppose it'd be less noticeable than if it were width-wise. She'd probably have noticed something protruding lol They're lucky no internal damage was done!

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  7. Yeah, not a one inch instrument, this was a whole foot long like a hot dog! Yikes. Nope, not planning on any operations in the near or distant future. Where do you find these odd stories??? Hope you are enjoying your weekend. Happy Easter.

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  8. And this is why I gave up nursing and I am reluctant to go to a doctor for anything beyond basic healthcare. Yikes! :(

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  9. I had a friend who turned ill after his surgery and it turned out they forgot a piece of bandage or a sponge inside of him! Stuff like that happens. But I sure hope it never will happen to me though!

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  10. Ouch! It's not as though it was something tiny that they could have overlooked, I mean a foot long instrument!

    I hope she is doing fine and gets a bundle from them.

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  11. Yipes, Joan.... Excuse me for saying this but maybe this will be what healthcare will be in our country soon--now that we have Obamacare.... Sorry about that!!!!

    Happy Easter.
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  12. Unbelievable....that poor woman. Shows how easy mistakes are made and how many people have to suffer because of them....thank God they finally found it and now she can heal. I think I would be suing as well Joan and I'm not usually in favor of this.......have a very Happy Easter my friend...Luv ya, xo

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  13. OUCH!!!!
    I'm scheduled for a colonoscopy pretty soon!
    I'm worried...

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  14. Didn't the article say something about it being spatula like? And it was a "female type" surgery? Maybe they were flipping her eggs??

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  15. Carol: Nope, this was a real news story. Scary isn't it?

    VaBookworm: That's for sure...!!

    Technobabe: A footlong hotdog..hahaaa funny!!

    Beth: I AM a NURSE...ha Yes, sometimes I saw scary stuff too...and prevented some mistakes as a nurse, too..

    Jientje: Yes, sponge counts are done after every surgery, but still mistakes are still made...it is scary.

    SquirrelQueen: Yes, I hope she did too...but sometimes I saw lawsuits that were ridiculous when I was in the healthcare field too.

    Betsy: Let's hope not!

    Bernie: hope your Easter is wonderful too Bernie....I am not in favor of MOST of the lawsuits, but this one? I would sue if it was me too. ha

    Pat: Don't worry about your colonscopy...hard to make a mistake with that one...only ONE place for the tube to go and come out. ha

    Cathy: Good one! hahahaaaa

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  16. How Horrible...Someone was in a hurry!

    Have a Joyful Easter, Joan!

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  17. That is both scary and bizarre!

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  18. I guess if you walk out of the hospital and hear a jingling sound you know where the doctor left his car keys. Car keys, a wristwatch, even a cellphone I miiiight understand. But a foot long instrument is beyond my imagination.

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  19. I have a real pain right now but I don't think I will go to the doctor now.

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  20. This is like those poor people who go to the hospital for surgery and the wrong limb is amputated.

    Seriously. Don't we pay someone else to do this stuff for us? They should totally have a checklist or something when closing up a patient just to make sure there are no spare parts floating around!

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  21. This had happen before, many years ago in Malaysia. Guess hospital should do a stock check, or should I say equipment check. How many went into the surgery room, make sure all are still in the tray after surgery.

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  22. Wanda: Hope your Easter was good too, Wanda...we were gone to Kenosha to visit my daughter and grandkids...had a great time!

    Eva: Yes, very scary. Working at a hospital all my career, I have heard of a missed sponge, but never a missed instrument (thank goodness!) during surgery.

    Ratty: At least if you called the cellphone and heard it ringing you could be sure it was in there. ha

    LD: no, no....go to the Dr., just have an eyewitness. :) thank goodness there are still some good ones out there!

    Kearsie: The ironic part? They DO have a checklist in surgery suites to do exactly that...so I can't figure out HOW this happened!

    Aries: I have been a nurse for years and believe it or not, all surgeries DO use a checklist of sponge counts and equipment...so how on earth did this happen????? I still say they were all sniffing the gas or something. ha

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