A British man who was scheduled for a different surgery might not be able to have children anymore after doctors operated on the “wrong site.”
The incident occurred at Royal Liverpool University Hospital, which is affiliated with the National Health Service, Britain’s public healthcare system.
“We can confirm a patient who was scheduled to have a different minor urological procedure was wrongly given a vasectomy,” RLUH medical director Dr. Peter Williams said in a statement.
“We have apologized unreservedly to the patient and we are offering him our full support. We greatly regret the distress this has caused him,” Williams said.
The hospital is now working hard to figure out what went down and how the patient ended up having the wrong procedure.
Although vasectomies are a permanent form of birth control, it is possible to reconnect the tubes that are severed during the procedure.
The success rate of reversing a vasectomy is usually between 40 and 50 percent, according to the Houston Fertility Institute.
However, the institute’s website also states that men who have had vasectomies may also be able to have children by extracting sperm to be used in in-vitro fertilization.
Lawyers told the patient that he could be looking at a six-figure settlement.
“In a worst-case scenario — sterility in a younger man with no children — the trust might be liable for a figure in excess of £100,000 in compensation,” Ian Cohen, a clinical negligence lawyer at Slater & Gordon said.
The National Health Service has previously come under fire for medical mishaps before. In December 2013, more than 150 patients had suffered from botched procedures over a six-month period, according to official statistics.
A report by Britain’s National Center for Policy Analysis states that the number of blunders reported in that period were comparable to those reported in past years.
Yikes!
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