Thread: VA Doctors remove wrong testicle

VA Patient Has Wrong Testicle Removed

Apr 4, 11:09 PM (ET)


LOS ANGELES (AP) - An Air Force veteran has filed a federal claim after an operation at a Veterans Administration hospital in which a healthy testicle was removed instead of a potentially cancerous one.

Benjamin Houghton, 47, was to have had his left testicle removed June 14 at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center because there was a chance it could harbor cancer cells. It also was atrophied and painful.

But doctors mistakenly removed the right testicle, according to medical records and the claim, which seeks $200,000 for future care and unspecified damages. He still hasn't had the other testicle removed.

"At first I thought it was a joke," Houghton told the Los Angeles Times. "Then I was shocked. I told them, 'What do I do now?'"

Houghton, his wife, Monica, and their attorney, Dr. Susan Friery, said they hoped to get the VA's attention by going public with the situation.

Dr. Dean Norman, chief of staff for the Greater Los Angeles VA system, has formally apologized to Houghton and his wife.

"We are making every attempt that we can to care for Mr. Houghton, but it's in litigation, and that's all we can tell you," he said. The hospital changed practices as a result of the case, he added.

Ohhhhhhhh that poor fella, I just told Dh about it and he winced!!!! Whoooo-weeeeee.......

I would not doubt it one little bit. When I nursed at a local hospital (and it was a big medical center,btw), the mds removed a totally healthy LEG from someone. Another time, another md nicked the cornea of a woman when he was doing surgery on her jaw, and still yet another time, when an md was doing replacement hip surgery on an elderly woman he cut into her groin accidently severing that huge artery. I am sure that other nurses could you horror stories as well.

Big, black permanent marker is used by the patient to mark the correct surgical site, prior to surgery, so there are no errors. This has been standard practice acrossed the USA for a number of years.

When my Mom had hip surgery, we also marked the wrong hip w/ a big "NO!"