Mistakes Were Made
Wrong Testicle Removed
By Daniel Muniz

Air Force veteran Benjamin Houghton, age 47, went to the West Lost Angeles VA Medical Center for a very routine ordinary procedure. His left testicle atrophied and had become quite painful. It was suspected that the testicle could possibly have cancerous cells so it was to be removed by surgery.

It was a simple procedure except that the VA hospital inadvertently removed the “right” testicle instead.

Houghton recounted his trauma to the Los Angeles Times by saying:

“At first I thought it was joke. Then I was shocked. I told them, ‘What do I do now?”’

For this veteran, there really is nothing for him to do about it. The “bad” testicle still has to be surgically removed and the good one is now gone forever.
 

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Of course the obvious question is that at age 47, what is it that he would be doing to really need a good testicle at all. Well, that question is beside the point. The issue is that a component of his manhood was wrongfully removed when it didn’t need to get snipped away at all.

Not surprisingly, Houghton is filing a federal claim.

The vet is asking for a settlement of $200,000 to cover future care as well as for unspecified damages. As a male, I don’t think that $200,000 is hardly enough money to properly compensate for what happened. Although I do imagine that age probably plays a big factor into determining what a good settlement ought to be especially if this would have happened to a single man under the age of 30.

As for me, the lowest amount that I could possibly bargain down to would probably be for half a million dollars but that is just me. Other men would probably feel differently if they faced the same scenario.

But more to the point, that for a man, this perhaps an outrageous and tragic error and somebody has to pay for it.

Overall, I can understand the part of the claim about unspecified damages. There is absolutely no question about that because this has to take into account the implications and the grave nature of the mistake. But what I am unclear about is what does he exactly mean by “future care” because there would be nothing down there for him to care for anymore and that is the purpose of the litigation in the first place.

Of course the Greater Los Angeles VA has profusely apologized and they have even made procedural changes to prevent such a mistake from ever occurring again. Of course that is of no consolation to Houghton.

Incidentally, there has been a rash of such erroneous incidents throughout the country like the wrong foot being amputated or brain surgery done on the wrong side of the head. And it makes absolutely no difference it was a public or a private hospital because the human element still plays a big role for these foul ups.

Although hindsight is 20/20, there should have been much better safeguards already in place in every hospital throughout the country to prevent these kinds of careless errors like this one from ever taking place. Unfortunately, these colossal mistakes seem to happen every year and it really doesn’t look like it will ever stop until hospitals get truly serious about establishing better procedures.

In fact, many medical professionals already encourage patients to use a marker to identify the good body part as well as identifying the part that is to be operated on.

I have personally known several people who have done exactly that. Nearly all of them felt a bit embarrassed because they didn’t want to insult the medical staff, particularly the people who were going to operate on them. However, many of these acquaintances have told me that although the bold explicit markings generated plenty of giggles, the hospital personnel adamantly agreed that they would have done the exact same thing themselves if they were going to be operated on because it is such an easy step to avoid carelessness.

There are also some doctors who even mark the body parts themselves so that it is a simple reminder. Such precautions may seem comical but they ought to be mandatory prior to any surgery.

Of course it is a day late and a dollar short for Houghton to do anything about it the next time around and it is too bad that he did not use a permanent marker to correctly identify what was to be removed and what was to be left untouched. Yeah, it would have been a little tricky for him because that is not exactly a firm body part but regardless of the difficulty involved it is always better to be safe than sorry.

But perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind is that although medical personnel are professionals it is still incumbent for any patient to use their own precautions whenever possible. After all, you are your own best safety manager and you have your own best interest in mind especially when it comes to getting something important lopped off.

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