In May this year, what was not supposed to happen on an operating table happened at a clinic in Freistadt in Austria.
A surgeon was to amputate an 82-year-old patient’s left leg at the thigh, due to injuries from a previous illness.
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The patient is said to have been asked to confirm that the leg was to be amputated, but as a result of the illness he had problems expressing himself, reports the Austrian tabloid newspaper today.
Marked wrong bone
But the surgeon had marked the wrong leg, and instead amputated the patient’s right leg, writes The Guardian.
The defect was not discovered until two days after the operation, according to BBC.
When the patient had to change the bandages on the surgical wound, one could see the horrible fact that the wrong leg was gone.
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The patient thus received the brutal message that the remaining leg still had to be amputated. He is said to have been offered psychological help after the incident.
The medical director of the clinic in Freistadt, Norbert Fritch, has issued a public apology for the error. He also promises to investigate the incident, writes The Independent.
– Simply do not know
The surgeon was reported for the affair, and this week the case came up in court.
Here the surgeon must have admitted that she knew that it was the left leg that was to be amputated.
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When asked why she then felt the wrong bone, she is said to have replied: “I simply do not know”, according to the Austrian newspaper delivery man.
Although the patient died before the case came up in court, his widow followed up the case in the courtroom.
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The 43-year-old surgeon explained that her actions were due to a “human error”. But the jury found her guilty of gross negligence, and fined her 2,700 euros, or almost 28,000 Norwegian kroner.
A spokesman for the court in Linz told The Guardian.
Must pay compensation
In addition, she must pay compensation of 5,000 euros to the patient’s wife. This amounts to just over 51,000 Norwegian kroner.
The surgeon also claimed that errors in the routines in the operating room must have contributed to creating the tragic exchange situation. She also maintains that there were errors in the actual planning of the operation, according to Kurier.
The surgeon still has the opportunity to appeal the verdict. She has now started working at another clinic.
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The head of the clinic has said that: “The causes and circumstances surrounding this medical error have been analyzed in detail”.
They further say that the internal procedures have been discussed with the team, and that they have offered training to their employees.
Rare cases
According to The Independent The hospital of St. Lucia’s OKEU is said to have said earlier this year that they are investigating a report of a similar amputation.
Such cases of amputation are still rare, according to the BBC, but there are examples of similar incidents.
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In 1995, a doctor in the United States performed an amputation on a diabetic patient. Halfway through the operation, he discovered that he had amputated the wrong leg.
He then had to continue, because he had already cut through muscles, tendons and ligaments, according to the news agency AP.
“Desperate need”
A few years later, a surgeon in Scotland performed double amputations on two men who had no physical ailment.
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The men are said to have felt a “desperate need” to be amputated, according to an article published in PubMed Central.
The two men are said to have had a type of body dysmorphy that made them convinced that they would only become normal if they had an amputation performed.
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Body dysmorphy is a type of mental disorder that gives the impression that certain aspects of one’s body or appearance are defective.
– Happy
The men had been rejected by other doctors, but had double amputations performed over the knee by the Scottish surgeon.
The surgeon is said to have told the hospital board that the patient’s life had changed after they lost their leg, and that they were happy in their new condition.
Both received custom prostheses, but they did not always use them.
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– Ultimately, I have no doubt that what I did was right for these patients, the surgeon is said to have said during a press conference.
Chairman of the board Ian Mullen also said that such operations were not excluded in the future, but then strict guidelines had to be followed.
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