Wednesday, February 25, 2009

No matter how bad a day you thought you were having...

A hospital in Lyon made a horrible error the other day when they removed the wrong breast from a 64- year old woman who was undergoing a mastectomy for breast cancer. The patient was due to have her left breast removed but woke up out of the anesthesia to find that both breasts had been taken. She was told that they had mistakenly taken the wrong one first, so they then had to take the other.

I can't even begin to imagine the emotions involved in dealing with breast cancer, let alone this kind of hospital error. All my sympathy goes out to this woman and her family, who are understandably en colère.

Apparently the hospital has offered the patient a free, full reconstruction. I just hope that this is a strong woman and that she has alot of support around her.

At any rate, I think I'll stop bitching about my lousy, uneventful week now...

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

OMG!!! What a horrible thing to happen. The hospital will probably chalk it up to being understaffed. Oh, that makes my skin crawl.

islandgirl4ever2 said...

Cannot EVEN begin to comprehend!!! Poor woman... My prayers to her.... My mom passed away a little over three years ago of metastasized breast cancer...It's hard enough just to have breast cancer... LET alone the hospital making an error like that!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

I remember reading something similar about a local man who had testicular cancer several years ago. My husband says that all the time: HOW DO YOU JUST GET THE WRONG ONE?

But I guess we're all human. I hope she has a strong support system.

Melissaand3boys said...

Oh that poor woman! Hopefully she does have a strong support system. Free reconstruction is the least they can do.

La Belette Rouge said...

OMG! I think if I had to have a breast remove I might write a note on the breast in indelible link so there would be no doubt about which one to remove and I am not kidding. That poor lady.

Unknown said...

I know! My jaw dropped several centimetres when I read that in the paper. It's scary what can actually go wrong--especially when you think you're already struggling with the worst. And I also stopped complaining. For the rest of the day, anyway. Memory hasn't been the same since the kids arrived.