Stranger Than Fiction
Surgeon fined more than £2,000 after amputating the wrong leg
Published:Thursday | December 9, 2021 | 5:58 AMBANG Bizarre, A Digital Integration & Marketing production
A tribunal in Austria heard that a doctor had marked the wrong leg of his 82-year-old patient, which the defendant claimed was a result of a systematic problem rather than human error.
The defendant said that "errors in surgical planning had taken place because no page information was given in the patient file, which is why a review was not possible".
The court also awarded £5,000 in damages to the widow of the patient - who passed away before the case could be heard.
The horrific mistake was only discovered a couple of days later during a routine bandage change when shocked nurses found out what had happened.
The surgeon involved has since been moved to another clinic and has the chance to appeal the verdict.
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