This won't end well.

This is eggsactly why doctors need malpractice insurance.

Well done, subby.

(pun intended)

she'll get ovary it.

Appendectomy, ovariectomy, same thing. ANYONE can make that mistake. I mean they look and sound SOOO similar.

I predicted tubal ligation litigation resulting in legislation...

dahmers love zombie: Best. City Name. Evar.

Ånger means regret. The ^o is important.

The Västernorrland County Council, which manages the hospital, said in a statement that the operation's complexity may have contributed to the mistake.

Complexity? Apendectomies are one of the most common surgeries in the world and oophorectomies (and in this case actually a salpingo-oophorectomy) are not nearly so common - how do you possibly get those procedures confused?

Who did the surgery, Dr Nick Riviera?

The knee bone's connected to the, something. The something's connected to the, red thing. The red thing's connected to my, wrist watch. Uh-oh. ...

I wonder how old she was. If this was a woman in her 50s, obviously this isn't as big of a deal. However, if she's in her 20s or 30s, then they just vastly reduced the chances of her having any more children. That will be a way bigger payout for her.

Either way, this was a really really dumb mistake. If I ever have surgery to remove something I'm going to confirm what's being cut out with the doctors before I go under.

If you can't tell an ovary from an appendix, you shouldn't have even made it into med school, much less become a doctor.

some swedish girl: Ånger means regret. The ^o is important.

Metallica should have spelled "St. Ånger" that way, since it was a regrettable album.

dahmers love zombie: Ångermanland

Since when is Ångermanland a city?

Next time, don't get your practice cadaver from the Operation game, or your license from an online medical school in the Caribbean.

JollyMagistrate
Where by vastly reduced you mean ended permanently.

Women have two ovaries. Well, except for that woman.

VeruccaGnome: JollyMagistrate
Where by vastly reduced you mean ended permanently.

Women have two ovaries. Well, except for that woman.

While that's true, removing one can really throw off body rhythms and severely reduce the chance to have kids. Even with that aside, there are other issues that can come up due to having an ovary removed as well (my wife had to have one removed a few years ago, so we had to learn about all the possible issues). This woman's likely to never have to work again...

FTA: The Västernorrland County Council, which manages the hospital, said in a statement that the operation's complexity may have contributed to the mistake.

Complexity? It's a friggin' appendectomy, one of the most commonly done and simple surgeries done anywhere.

Ovary funny, subby.

JollyMagistrate: allestelle: I wonder how old she was. If this was a woman in her 50s, obviously this isn't as big of a deal. However, if she's in her 20s or 30s, then they just vastly reduced the chances of her having any more children.

Where by vastly reduced you mean ended permanently.

No, that's not what I meant. They only removed one ovary and fallopian tube. We have two of each.

I successfully sued my local hospital over a similar blunder. What was meant to have been a simple 10 minute procedure became something else and rather than cancelling the surgery and suggesting I go back at a later date, I was subjected to hour long surgery that I didn't need or ask for which included two pieces of equipment failure, which meant that instead of a couple of days recovery, I ended up needing 6 months of recouperation - by which time, I'd found out what was going on and had started proceedings.
Took 5 years in total to sort it all out... which is a relatively short length of time in cases like this. I do hope the woman sues the hospitals ass off.

I love articles from The Local because I always get distracted by the pictures...



/hotlinked for my pleasure

Kyndig
While that's true, removing one can really throw off body rhythms and severely reduce the chance to have kids. Even with that aside, there are other issues that can come up due to having an ovary removed as well (my wife had to have one removed a few years ago, so we had to learn about all the possible issues)
I wasn't objecting to allstelles Weeners, only to the "ended permanently" which I replied to.

This woman's likely to never have to work again...
This is Sweden which doesn't have punitive damages as such so she will not be seeing a lot of money. Of course that can be seen as a bad thing but on the other hand there is no swedish term for ambulance chaser.

DahCheet: I love articles from The Local because I always get distracted by the pictures...

Same problem here until I got to this picture.


Link (new window)

/the guidos
//they are invading Sweden

I think you all are missing the big picture here:
Two headlines linked from the article are:

Physician to lose licence after oral sex with patient
Sex ed group: 'Fetishism is not a disease'

Oh-riiight!

However, if she's in her 20s or 30s, then they just vastly reduced the chances of her having any more children.

not true. that's why you have 2. hooray for built-in fail-safes.

/only has 1 ovary
//and no appendix
///had them taken out at the right time for the right surgery in each instance

First off, nice headline.

To cover all of the armchair surgeons: This article lacks facts, as most 10-line articles do. Appendectomies are very common. It is also fairly common to explore for an appendectomy (even with an equivocal or false-positive CT scan or ultrasound) and find something else that is abnormal and may account for abdominal pain and associated symptoms. If a grossly abnormal right ovary is present in a patient having abdominal pain, with a normal-appearing appendix, the standard of care (in the US) is to take it out and send it to the path lab to find out wtf is wrong with it.

The other ovary, if normal, can regulate hormones and produce eggs during child-bearing years. There will be enough follicle potential in one ovary to cover until menopause if it functions normally.

Did I mention that I liked the headline?

Good thing the patient wasnt a man. I looked up the full report, a Russian by the name of Dr Kotcherkokov was performing the operation.

/could have reversed with an Addadictomy

if she's in her 20s or 30s, then they just vastly reduced the chances of her having any more children.

Where by vastly reduced you mean ended permanently.

No he means vastly reduced. they took one ONE ovary and ONE fallopian tube. We learned in 5th grade health class that us girls have TWO of each. The docs merely cut her chances of conceiving kids in half.

Approves.

half-mad-genius: if she's in her 20s or 30s, then they just vastly reduced the chances of her having any more children.

Where by vastly reduced you mean ended permanently.

No he means vastly reduced. they took one ONE ovary and ONE fallopian tube. We learned in 5th grade health class that us girls have TWO of each. The docs merely cut her chances of conceiving kids in half.

No, that's not quite how it works. One ovary simply does double the work, rather than half the work. The body understands that when it's down one, it ramps up the egg-releasing ability of the one left.

See the other article linked there about the doctor who gave unsolicited head to his male patient?

Kyndig: Complexity? It's a friggin' appendectomy, one of the most commonly done and simple surgeries done anywhere.

It means she was fat. They put it a polite way. Really fat people are really hard to operate on, and even normally simple surgeries become complicated.

/The more you know

half-mad-genius: Umm, you might want to read about that process.

half-mad-genius: No he means vastly reduced. they took one ONE ovary and ONE fallopian tube. We learned in 5th grade health class that us girls have TWO of each. The docs merely cut her chances of conceiving kids in half.

Adding to what everybody else has said, it was my understanding that ovaries can only generate so many egg cells. So, with one ovary missing, she'll likely go into menopause much sooner, so her child bearing years have been greatly reduced, while her changes of conceiving over that period are roughly the same.

It's been a while since I took biology class, so I'm not quite sure if that's accurate.

Maneck: Kyndig: Complexity? It's a friggin' appendectomy, one of the most commonly done and simple surgeries done anywhere.

It means she was fat. They put it a polite way. Really fat people are really hard to operate on, and even normally simple surgeries become complicated.

/The more you know

But surely once you manage to get through the fat, there should be no problem. Do fat people's internal organs look different?

Firefly4F4: not accurate

A partial hysterectomy instead of an appendectomy? Woops. I guess anyone could make that mistake, as they both end in "ectomy," right? Don't these retard M.D.s realize that by watching Rodney Dangerfield movies, they can avoid these mistakes? All right, interns, DO NOT - I repeat - DO NOT do what Rodney does.

Also, to the Swedes out there, is there malpractice insurance in Sweden? Does this woman have any legal recourse?

+1 to subby for making me read that headline 3 times.

Kublai Khan:

But surely once you manage to get through the fat, there should be no problem. Do fat people's internal organs look different?

once you hit the 300 mark the organs turn into marshmallows. i've seen it.

goofas: not even close to a hysterectomy. I actually read the link again to make sure that you are so totally wrong.

Firefly4F4: Adding to what everybody else has said, it was my understanding that ovaries can only generate so many egg cells.

Women have approximately 200,000 primitive ova at birth, far more than they'll ever actually develop and release. One ovary can do the work of two, and assuming it's healthy the woman should not be especially less fertile.

IANAD

spyderqueen: The Västernorrland County Council, which manages the hospital, said in a statement that the operation's complexity may have contributed to the mistake.

Complexity? Apendectomies are one of the most common surgeries in the world and oophorectomies (and in this case actually a salpingo-oophorectomy) are not nearly so common - how do you possibly get those procedures confused?

Thank you. Saved me typing it out. ;-)

So, what I'm guessing happened here is that the CT scan showed a big fat mess in the right lower quadrant of the abdomen, and instead of explaining everything that could be to the patient the doc said "probably your appendix. we're gonna take it out." When it could be anything. Could be PID. Could be diverticulitis. Could be Crohn's. Sometimes you really don't know.

This is why my consent forms look like this:

Appendectomy, possible right tubo-oophrectomy, possible small bowel resection, possible right hemicolectomy, possible ostomy.

That way all my bases are covered.

Unless the doc is a nitwit and thought "Huh, why is this appendix so big and not inflammed?"