'Tumour' was a towel!

[Meanies]

Doctors who carried out surgery on a Japanese man to remove a "tumour" had good news and bad news for him. He did not have cancer -- but the "growth" that had been causing him pain was in fact a 25-year-old surgical towel.

The patient had been carrying the cloth since 1983, when surgeons at the Asahi General Hospital in Chiba prefecture near Tokyo left it in him after an operation to treat an ulcer, a spokesman for the hospital said.

The man, now 49, went in to another hospital in late May after suffering abdominal pain.

When examinations found what was believed to be an eight-centimetre (3.2-inch) tumour, he underwent the operation to remove it. It was only then that surgeons realised it was a towel.

"The towel was greenish blue although we are not sure about its original colour," the Asahi General Hospital spokesman said, adding it had been crumpled to the size of a softball.

Asahi hospital officials visited the man and apologised, he said.

The former patient has no plans to sue the hospital, which is in talks with him over compensation or other measures, the official said.

Japanese media reports said the man, who was not identified, still had his spleen removed.



How could they forget to remove it from him :S

[Alkaz]

These things happen! Simple mistake to make really.

[-Eyeless-]

Simple mistake but if it was in America, I bet there would have been court cases... I think the man made the right decision but if it was in most western countries then the hospital would have to pay millions in compensation...

[jesus]

Carelessness! I bet he was releived when he found out it wasn't a tumour though. :)

[Phreedom]

Simple mistake but if it was in America, I bet there would have been court cases... I think the man made the right decision but if it was in most western countries then the hospital would have to pay millions in compensation...

greedy americans.


Yes i can say that, i live in america.

[Dan2nd]

Well Dr Hibbert left his car keys in Mrs Glick xD

erm yeah anyway I guess it's just a careless mistake but at least it wasn't a tumour

[Fehm]

ooo god if that happened to me, id be gettin loadsss of compensations

[Spiffing]

ewww.

whatta shame lol. he'd be like all worried that he might die:rolleyes:

[e5]

If it wen't really old, it might of infected his body. Silly mistake leaving the towel it lol, but he's fortunate not to actually have a tumour :).

[Yoshimitsui]

The size of a softball!!!! How do you leave something that big in someone! :O

[Misawa]

That's the same as the guy who had that rare form of diabetes, had to have a leg amputated but they got the wrong one, ended up taking the right one off afterwards. He tried to sue, but the judge immediately through the case out saying he didn't have a leg to stand on.

[joshuar]

greedy americans.


Yes i can say that, i live in america.

You don't need to live in America to say that....

I'd be happy that it wasn't a tumour to be honest.

[J-P-C]

How could they forget to remove it from him :S

okay firstly, i dont know if you have ever worked/seen a operation theatre, its an extremely stressful environment, and especially on the stomach/GI tract there is alot of blood therefore the surgeons having to use dozens and dozens of sterile gauze swob's ( surgical towels ) these towels then completely turn red with the blood and making it very hard for them to see it. at the end they have to count how many they use/ how many they should have back and in this case they miss counted. These things happen but they are extremely rare and they are only ever heard of when they do happen. You do have to give the surgeons there credit there job is so stressful and they do an amazing job. If it wasnt for them they wouldnt have even removed the towel.

[womanizer]

i would have sued the hell out of them

[Hiro]

Haha wow.
Gotta love the Japanese :D

[GommeInc]

I would be glad they dealt with that too, aswell as the spleenectomy to be honest "/ He's had the same op as me, wooo!

[risque]

Well now you know where not to have surgery.

[Florx]

This is actually really easy to do. I watched a documentry on it a few months ago.

It was saying that they use that many towels and they get drenched in blood that they don't notice it is missing. Also they don't show up well on scans so they don't know what is it.

They introduced a new system where by everyone that they used had a barcode on, so when they use one, it gets scanned, when it comes out, it gets scanned so they know how many are missing e.t.c.

[N-Dubz]

LMAO bless.

[Niall!]

That's the same as the guy who had that rare form of diabetes, had to have a leg amputated but they got the wrong one, ended up taking the right one off afterwards. He tried to sue, but the judge immediately through the case out saying he didn't have a leg to stand on.

Oh haha, bet you were dying to use that one.