Veteran Files Claim After Wrong Testicle Removed

An Air Force veteran has filed a federal claim after an operation at a Veterans Administration hospital in which a healthy testicle was removed instead of a potentially cancerous one.

Benjamin Houghton, 47, was to have had his left testicle removed June 14 at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center because there was a chance it could harbor cancer cells. It also was atrophied and painful.

But doctors mistakenly removed the right testicle, according to medical records and the claim, which seeks $200,000 for future care and unspecified damages. He still hasn't had the other testicle removed.

"At first I thought it was a joke," Houghton told the Los Angeles Times. "Then I was shocked. I told them, 'What do I do now?"'

Dr. Dean Norman, chief of staff for the Greater Los Angeles VA system, has formally apologized to Houghton and his wife.

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That just sucks. I was always told that if your getting something removed that you have 2 of (arms, legs) that you should hget a permanant maker and write 'DO NOT REMOVE' on the appropriate body part. But i guess that would be difficult to due on a testicle. I feel bad for him...

Wow, I would put a much higher price tag on my testical if I only had one good one left! You have to think of the impact this will have on his life. No sexual desire for as long as he lives. I cant imagine having doctors do this.

Another horrible mistreatment of our Veterans,

to see more mistreatment check this out:

www.abovepolitics.com...


It makes me angry to see this kind of treatment

Originally posted by Slade88green

No sexual desire for as long as he lives.

I'm pretty sure a male can still perform and enjoy sex, without testicles.
He'll just not be able to have children.

And, ImpliedChaos hit the nail on the head.
Use a marker to indicate the proper appendage being operated on.

For each of my surgeries, I've written a (hopefully) witty comment on
the good leg, indicating that the doctor may want to look at the other leg.

Anyway,
Lex

Originally posted by Lexion
I'm pretty sure a male can still perform and enjoy sex, without testicles.
He'll just not be able to have children.

Only with continuing hormonal therapy. Otherwise, he'll just lose interest and be unable to perform.

At 47, he's still young and could very well have wanted to father children in the future. Sounds like a big lawsuit to me.

Jeez!

What part of ATROPHIED, did the doctors not understand?

"Let's see, was that my left, or his left?"

Originally posted by Lexion

And, ImpliedChaos hit the nail on the head.
Use a marker to indicate the proper appendage being operated on.

For each of my surgeries, I've written a (hopefully) witty comment on
the good leg, indicating that the doctor may want to look at the other leg.

Anyway,
Lex

in those circumstances, a male orderly comes & removes(shaves) the hair around the whole area....just about hours before the scheduled surgery.
then just about when you've settled back into a non-embarrased state
they wheel you into the pre-op room & start putting you under- - - - -
at least that's the sequence at Duke University hospital (Halstead ward, named for the famed urologist)

it never entered my mind to get ahold of a magic marker or Sharpie.

....but i reckon that type of action is needed in this hectic fast paced world (notice i'm Not finger pointing at Veteran's hospitals) as mistakes abound in the surgury rooms all across the nation, and the pharmacies too!

on the down side ,
the man might sue for $200k, but whatever he gets awarded- the lawyers will get their first 33 1/3% off the top! then minus the extraneous costs incurred...& finally Mr 'Eunich', as the coldhearted will refer to him as, will
have to settle for the remaining crumbs....thus adding even more insult to injury!

Originally posted by JacKatMtn
Another horrible mistreatment of our Veterans,

to see more mistreatment check this out:

www.abovepolitics.com...


It makes me angry to see this kind of treatment

Puh-Lease. This has nothing to do with him being a veteran, this is a medical mistake. It could have happened to anybody. Stop trying to twist every news item into some type of agenda.

Having said that, $200k doesn't begin to cover it. Once this guy gets the injured testicle removed, he's going to be sterile. The fact that he has lost his ability to reproduce due to this error should make it upwards of a cool million or more I would think. Really, you can't put a price on one's ability to produce offspring...but I'm sure a million would help him feel a little better about it.

Originally posted by BlueTriangle
Puh-Lease. This has nothing to do with him being a veteran, this is a medical mistake.

at a Veterans Administration hospital

An Air Force veteran has filed a federal claim after an operation at a Veterans Administration hospital...

It's a VA Hospital..he's lucky they just cut the wrong nad off.

He could have come back with an ostomy pouch or something.

Originally posted by JacKatMtn

Originally posted by BlueTriangle
Puh-Lease. This has nothing to do with him being a veteran, this is a medical mistake.

at a Veterans Administration hospital

An Air Force veteran has filed a federal claim after an operation at a Veterans Administration hospital...

Again, quit trying to turn everything into some left wing agenda. Mistakes like this happen all the time, not just at VA hospitals. This particular case happened to be at a VA hospital, but a simple google search will show you thousands of cases of incorrect limbs being removed, procedures performed on the wrong patients, etc.

It sucks, but it happens. Trying to use this as proof of VA doctors or hospitals being subpar doesn't hold water at all. And, unless I'm misunderstanding your intentions, that's what you're trying to do.

Originally posted by BlueTriangle
Again, quit trying to turn everything into some left wing agenda...

So now the mistreatment is a political agenda?

I am sickened by politics, my concerns have absolutely nothing to do with any political agenda, my concerns are for our Veterans, PERIOD.

....Trying to use this as proof of VA doctors or hospitals being subpar doesn't hold water at all.

Anytime a veteran is mistreated in a VA hospital, it can be considered subpar.

Cutting off wrong body parts got to be such a big problem in surgery suites across the nation that policies were instituted to mark a big "X" on the part that was NOT to be removed (or some other identifying mark) with a magic marker. If there is ever a question about it, then surgery does not begin until the chart is consulted, the body part is visualized by the doctor and the correct part is positively identified.

A simple fact of life is that most nurses are female and females as a group are generally "spatially challenged". How many females do you know who can read a map or blueprint, etc.? I am a female nurse and see this all the time. The reason I bring up this point is because it is the nurse who looks at the chart to see which part is supposed to be removed and then makes the mark on the body with magic marker. If some other nurse has charted "Left foot" or "right testicle" and was having a dyslexic moment when she charted it then the nurse (maybe the same one) making the identifying mark on the body will mark the body part mentioned in the chart. In a grossly understaffed, unbelievably hectic work environment, this is a simple (though inexcusable) mistake to make. Ultimately, the doctor performing the surgery should know why he/she is cutting something off, ie: gangrenous leg, atrophied testicle, etc. If the body part you're getting ready to remove doesn't look gangrenous or atrophied then you might want to take a moment and verify your information. There is also a secondary layer of protection (supposedly) in the O.R. by the O.R. nurses who look at the chart, verify the information and make sure the correct body part is marked.

For this sort of gross malpractice to still be happening with all the checks and rechecks and triple checks that are supposed to be going on per policy in every hospital in the nation, is untenable. It's an easily winnable case simply because it violates the standard of care known to exist everywhere. Small consolation for the man and the amount of money he is awarded will be determined by several factors. Does he already have at least 1 child? Did he plan on having any others? Was his wife still able/willing to have children? Were they about to get a divorce? Was he cheating on her? Everything you really don't want to discuss in a public court room will be brought up in determining his settlement but if he can hang in there, he should be a wealthy man when it's over. More than likely, the hospital will settle out of court because they will NOT want to take it to trial.

Originally posted by JacKatMtn

So now the mistreatment is a political agenda?

If I misread your intentions, I apologize. In case you somehow missed it, the left wingers have used recent incidents with our veterans to slam the President. So, when I see someone preaching the party line, I naturally assume it's not a coincidence.

Originally posted by JacKatMtn

Anytime a veteran is mistreated in a VA hospital, it can be considered subpar.

Of course I mean the hospital as a whole being subpar when compared to non-VA hospitals. Obviously when there's a mistake, it's subpar treatment. However, as I mentioned, this happens everywhere.

I just don't see how it's relevant that the guy is a veteran. If this happened to your every day ordinary American would it be any less tragic? When i see quotes like this

Another horrible mistreatment of our Veterans,

It certainly seems like you're trying to elude that our Veterans are mistreated regularly or purposefully. Regardless of whether you believe that or not, this was an accident and can't really be attributed to some mass mistreatment of veterans. Doing such a thing, certainly looks like the recent left wing activity...so you can see why I reacted the way I did.