From the pre-theatre nerves to the anesthetic and recovery, having surgery is a stressful experience, but most of the time it’s worth it to relieve a persistent problem or save your life in an emergency.
Unless of course your surgeon accidentally operates on the wrong body part while you’re out cold. While this might sound like something straight from Frankenstein, unfortunately it’s all too real for at least 63 Irish patients who had surgery carried out on the wrong part of their body in the last five years.
According to figures obtained by The Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act, the number of patients to suffer wrong-site procedures is likely to be much higher given that some hospitals did not release details of these errors.
Among the blunders made by doctors was a situation where a man’s left kidney was operated on instead of his right and another case where a man had an operation on the wrong finger.
A total of 23 wrong-site operations were carried out at the RCSI Hospital Group between 2011 and 2015. The Ireland East Hospital Group, which includes the Mater hospital, recorded 15 such incidents with another 15 recorded at the Saolta West/North-West hospital group, which includes Galway University Hospital, Mayo General Hospital and Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe.
There were five wrong site procedures registered in the UL/Midwest hospital group, while “inconsistencies in data entry” meant statistics for the South/South-West Hospital Group could not be included.
Stephen McMahon, Chairman of the Irish Patients Association, said the statistics were disappointing. He said:
“A recent research study has shown that one in every eight hospital admissions results in an adverse event, and 70 per cent of these events are avoidable.
“Serious matters like this call for greater vigilance and best-known practice to prevent recurrences in the future.”
Have you ever been victim to a wrong-site procedure or had a near miss? Let us know on Twitter @HerFamilydotie.
