Forgot metal clamp during surgery in the abdomen

Treatment error: forgot 16-inch metal clamp during surgery in the abdomen

24.03.2011

As unbelievable as it sounds, surgical tools and other objects in the body of patients are often forgotten. This fate has also overtaken a patient of the Protestant hospital Holzminden. During a gynecological operation, the attending physician sutured a 16-centimeter-long metal clamp in the 49-year-old woman's stomach.

After the 49-year-old from the neighboring Höxter (North Rhine-Westphalia) in May 2010 had undergone a gynecological surgery in Holzmindener hospital, she suffered for months in severe pain. In the end it turned out that the surgeon had forgotten a 16-centimeter long arterial clamp in her stomach. Only after nine months, the metal terminal was located and then removed in another clinic, confirmed clinic CEO Marco Ellerhoff corresponding media reports.

Patient suffered for months under severe pain
After the gynecological surgery, the 49-year-old had reportedly suffered for months under extreme abdominal pain. In addition, the wounds were not healed and she had felt under the skin a hard object, the patient explained to the „Westfalen-Blatt“. However, the surgeon did not elaborate on her problems and presented her as a hypochondriac. Again and again, the patient was calmed and comforted, until finally in February this year - about nine months after surgery - the chief physician of her case. During an x-ray, he found out that there was a 16-centimeter-long metal clamp in the patient's stomach, confirmed clinic manager Marco Ellerhoff. The Protestant hospital is struggling to limit the damage in the face of the appalling process, and Ellerhoff emphasized that the patient should now at least be financially compensated for the incident as quickly as possible. „We are in discussion with our insurance company and also with the patient“, explained the clinic manager.

Operating doctor is not busy anymore
However, the hospital management did not want to disclose any further details about the procedure. How it could happen that a metal object about 16 centimeters long in the body of a patient was forgotten and sewn in, therefore, remains a mystery. Clinic director Ellerhoff merely stated that he was personal „very scared“ when the case became known to him. The behavior of the operating physician is particularly critical. Not only was he unnecessarily jeopardizing the patient's health through his negligent work, but also the way he dealt with the woman's complaints was more than questionable. Instead of seriously thinking about and acknowledging his own mistakes, the physician went on the offensive and questioned the credibility of his patient. The clinic management of the Protestant hospital Holzminden has now distanced himself from the doctor and declares that he will not extend the contract of the surgeon expiring at the end of March. (Fp)

Picture: Martin Büdenbender