Brain surgery performed on wrong patient after ID mixup

[pnwmom]

Source: Newsweek

Four Kenyan medical staff have been suspended from their Nairobi hospital after they inadvertently cut open the skull of the wrong patient for a brain surgery, following an ID mix-up.

Two patients were brought in for treatment to Kenyatta National Hospital, the Kenyan capital: One for a clot on the brain that needed surgery and the other with swelling that required noninvasive treatment. Somewhere along the way, however, their identification tags were switched.

According to the BBC, the doctors did not realize their error until hours into the surgery, when they discovered there was no clot.

Despite the unnecessary surgery, the head of the medical facility has said the patient is in recovery and progressing well, while an investigation is under way.

Read more: http://www.newsweek.com/brain-surgery-performed-wrong-patient-after-hospital-id-mix-827952

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Glad this wasn't a U.S. hospital!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. That is a very serious breakdown in what should be a routine event.

There are procedures to ensure that this sort of thing doesn't happen. Something went badly wrong, and I hope they find and fix it.

[pangaia]

5. They forgot to ask the patient his/her date of birth and mailing address.

[Eliot Rosewater]

2. Too bad this cant happen to people who need new brains. I could mention a few

[rickford66]

3. I just had cataract eye surgery.

Everyone, and I mean everyone, I came in contact with asked my name, date of birth and what surgery I was to have. My doctor put a mark above the proper eye. Even he asked what eye I was having done just to see if I was with it. The same thing happens with doctor visits for any reason. I don't mind it a bit.

[unblock]

4. "the head of the medical facility"

funny way to refer to the boss when brain surgery is involved....

[Le Gaucher]

6. He'll be fine -- I have heard stories when a person with wrong eye was removed

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3148242/Parents-horrified-one-year-old-baby-left-blind-following-tumour-surgery-Mexico-wrong-EYE-removed.html


that is horrific

[NCjack]

7. Fox Friends will explain to us how this is the fault of former President Obama. nt