Wrong kidney removed despite parents’ concern

In 2008, a case emerged of a child having the wrong kidney removed in an Irish hospital despite the parents raising concerns about the side of the body on which the procedure was to take place.

A subsequent report found that at several stages before and during the surgery, X-rays were not consulted and the wrong organ was removed despite its healthy appearance.

The operation was conducted in Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin, by a specialist registrar even though he was there to assist, had no experience in an unsupervised procedure of its kind and had not seen the patient beforehand. As the child was wheeled into theatre, a nurse passed on a concern raised by the parents regarding the side of the body on which the procedure was to take place, but it progressed nonetheless.

A similar error occurred at a UK hospital in 2000. Graham Reeves (70) had the wrong kidney removed and, despite two operations, emergency dialysis and medication, died five weeks later.

Dr John Roberts (59) and Dr Mahesh Goel (39), who were said to have failed to check their case notes, were later cleared of manslaughter as it could not be certain the error caused Mr Reeves's death.

In a more recent high-profile case in the US, a Yale doctor is accused of trying to cover up the removal of the wrong rib from a patient by saying not enough had been taken out in the first operation.

Deborah Craven (60) underwent surgery last year at Yale New Haven Hospital due to the presence of a lesion. According to a legal case filed last month, the patient was told she would need to undergo another surgery.

In 2013, a case in the UK saw a man sue a hospital for removing the wrong testicle.

Within the course of a single year, Rhode Island Hospital in the US – an ivy league training centre – had erroneously operated on the wrong side of three brains.

At a St Louis hospital in 2013, an operation on the wrong side of the brain in a procedure intended to stop mini-strokes left Regina Turner (53) without speech and in a wheelchair.