Wednesday, April 04, 2007

When the difference between left and right is very important

I'm not a litigious person, but oh, hells yeah, I'd be suing, too:
An Air Force veteran has filed a federal claim after an operation at a Veterans Administration hospital in which a healthy testicle was removed instead of a potentially cancerous one.

Benjamin Houghton, 47, was to have had his left testicle removed June 14 at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center because there was a chance it could harbor cancer cells. It also was atrophied and painful.

But doctors mistakenly removed the right testicle, according to medical records and the claim, which seeks $200,000 for future care and unspecified damages. He still hasn't had the other testicle removed.
On the bright side, the Chief of Staff for the Greater Los Angeles VA system formally apologized to Houghton and his wife. Somehow, I just don't that's going to be good enough, though.

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