Doctors Claim Surgery Patient Was Too Long - Seek Return of Lost Surgical Tool

Czech doctors left foot-long instrument in patient

Feb 15 2010


PRAGUE— 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 wrench-like surgical instrument from the woman following gynecological surgery in September.

Top regional official Michal Hasek apologized to Zdenka Kopeckova, 66, 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, one shot.

The team of surgeons conducting the operation countered that the woman, who is 6 feet tall, was too long, causing the surgical instrument to slip down in the abdominal cavity where it could not be readily seen amidst all the blood and gore.

CT24 news television reported that the woman, who complained repeatedly to her doctors about the pain, plans to sue. G=Clinic lawyers said they would counterclaim against the woman for excessive length and for recovery of the surgical instrument, which costs $85 E. The odd looking instrument, which closely resembles an ordinary pipe wrench, was used to loosen the woman's "pipes" according to a nurse who was not present for the surgery and said she was only guessing.

This sort of thing happens frequently in the smaller, more poorly staffed clinics, said a spokesman, Valerio Nonchalant, on condition of blasphemy. He said about a year ago a golf cart was left inside the abdominal cavity of a large man. The man couldn't understand why fellow golfers kept wanting to ride him.