An article popped up in my email a few days ago, and I thought I would share it. A young man in California had undergone surgery for a kidney problem. Afterwards he had a great deal of pain and was not healing properly. They finally discovered that a 1×2 foot surgical towel had been left inside him during the surgery! He lost his kidney because of the towel and has now sued the surgeon.
Here’s a link to the article: http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/money/homepage/article_1554346.php
Steve, the young man cited in the article, contacted me and asked how he can proactively help others. I believe that he recognizes that sometimes, the best you can do after a horrible medical experience, is to help others. It’s very cathartic.
I’ve suggested to Steve that he either participate in, or start up, a surgery mistake / surgical error support group online. I looked around for some for him to participate in, but couldn’t find any.
If you have suffered from mistakes made during surgery, or know of a surgery error support group and would like to touch base with Steve, please send me a quick email: blog@diagknowsis.org I’ll forward your contact info to Steve.