It’s inevitable that of the thousands of patients they treat every year, doctors are going to make a mistake.
There are also thousands of malpractice cases filed every year for incorrect or untimely diagnoses, bungled surgeries, or prescription mishaps.
However, in some cases, doctors have removed entirely incorrect organs, swapped the wrong type of life-saving blood, or done operations that were completely unnecessary.
Here are six of the worst surgical blunders in US medical history.
The man who had the wrong testicle removed
An Air Force Veteran had the wrong testicle when he suspected testicular cancer
In 2006, 47-year-old Air Force veteran Benjamin Houghton went to a Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital to have his potentially cancerous left testicle removed.
The father-of-four had previously battled testicular cancer – which affects one in 250 men – and sought help from a Los Angeles VA hospital.
However, according to records and a claim filed by Mr Houghton’s wife, the surgeon accidentally removed his right testicle after the team failed to mark the correct part of his body.
Because the healthy testicle was producing testosterone, this made Mr Houghton vulnerable to low testosterone, which has been linked to complications like erectile dysfunction, fatigue, weight gain, depression, memory issues, and osteoporosis.
‘I thought it was a joke,’ Mr Houghton told the LA Times. ‘Then I was shocked. I told them, “What do I do now?”‘
Mr Houghton and his family sued the VA for the sexual dysfunction, depression, and osteoporosis that occurred as a result of the mistake. They received a $200,000 settlement.
The teen who suffered brain damage after receiving the wrong blood
Jesica Satillan of North Carolina suffered irreversible brain damage after she received organs with the wrong blood type
Jesica Satillan was 17 years old when she received a heart and double-lung transplant in 2003.
Both lungs had become weakened as a result of cardiomyopathy, a disease that weakens the heart muscle myocardium, thickening and stiffening it. This makes it harder to pump blood through the rest of the body, which can lead to multiple organ failure.
When she received the transplant at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina, she was given organs with the wrong blood type. Her body then rejected these organs, making the rest of her body shut down.
The doctors didn’t realize the error until the surgery was nearly complete.
Though she received a new set of organs with the correct blood, Ms Satillan suffered irreversible brain damage. She died two days after being taken off life support.
The family reached a confidential settlement in 2004.
The woman whose breast was unnecessarily removed
A New York City hospital misinterpreted Eduvigis Rodriguez’s test results and thought she had breast cancer
In 2005, Eduvigis Rodriguez, then 49, was diagnosed with breast cancer – which affects 300,000 American women every year- after doctors found a lump in her breast.
However, doctors at Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital in New York City had misinterpreted the results as cancerous when they were not.
Instead, she had sclerosing adenosis, a benign condition that causes extra breast tissue.
Ms Rodriguez was sent to the neighboring Lennox Hill Hospital, where she had a mastectomy – complete removal of her left breast. Doctors at Lennox Hill had failed to check the pathology report to confirm she had cancer.
The surgery led to Ms Rodriguez enduring a pulmonary embolism – a blockage of the pulmonary arteries, which send blood to the lungs- blood clots, and a hernia.
She sued the hospital for expenses and pain and suffering.
‘I want justice, and I want explanations. I do not want to see this happen to anyone else. I had confidence in the surgeon and the hospitals, but I cannot believe all the mistakes that were made,’ Ms Rodriguez said.
The elderly patient who had unneeded brain surgery
An elderly woman in Michigan died after having unnecessary brain surgery due to files getting mixed up
Bilma Nayyar, 81 at the time, needed surgery to fix her dislocated jaw in 2012.
When she sought care at Oakwood Hospital in Dearborn, Michigan, just outside of Detroit, doctors instead performed a craniotomy. This involves removing part of the bone from the skull to reach the brain.
The doctors claimed the issue was due to a medical record mixup, which occurred when another patient’s records were placed in Ms Nayyar’s file.
The team expected her to have bleeding on the brain, but when she didn’t, they realized she didn’t need brain surgery.
Ms Nayyar developed complications and died two months later. Though a jury initially awarded her family $20 million, the verdict was overturned on a technicality.
The man who had a leg amputated after receiving the wrong biopsy
A man in Rhode Island had to have his leg amputated after he had a bone marrow transplant while not on his blood thinners, which led to gangrene
In 2010, Peter Sfameni’s doctors suspected he may have had lymphoma, a cancer that affects the lymphatic system, the body’s germ-fighting network.
It affects nearly 90,000 Americans every year and kills about 20,000.
The 55-year-old went to an emergency room at a Rhode Island hospital, complaining of lower back pain, fatigue, and weight loss. He was taking medication for a blood clotting disorder.
Doctors took Mr Stameni off his blood thinners to prepare him for a colonoscopy and lymph node biopsy. However, they performed a bone marrow biopsy instead.
He developed blood clots in his legs and lungs, which led to gangrene – the death of body tissue – forming in his right leg. The leg had to be amputated.
In 2017, Mr Sfameni was awarded a $61.6 million settlement.
The man who had the wrong foot amputated
Willie King of Florida had the wrong foot removed and then later had to have the correct one removed as well
Willie King of Florida was set to have his right leg amputated in 1995 as a result of complications from diabetes, which he had been diagnosed with 20 years before.
Mr King went to University Community Hospital in Tampa for the procedure, where doctors cut off the wrong foot.
When he woke up, he told the doctor, ‘That’s the wrong leg.’
‘When I came to and realized I lost the good one, it was a shock, a real shock,’ Mr King told the Tampa Bay Times.
‘I really wanted someone to come to me to say a mistake had been made.’
Mr King was transferred to Tampa General Hospital, where the medical team tried to save his right foot. He opted to have the rest of the foot cut off at the calf to avoid more painful procedures.
Doctors claimed that both legs were diseased, but Mr King filed a lawsuit against the hospital. He was awarded a $1.15 settlement and had the diseased foot removed elsewhere.
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