national

Surgical towel found in patient's stomach after 25 years

9 Comments

Doctors who carried out surgery on a man to remove a "tumor" had good news and bad news for him. He did not have cancer -- but the "growth" that had been causing him pain was in fact a 25-year-old surgical towel.

The patient had been carrying the cloth since 1983, when surgeons at the Asahi General Hospital in Chiba prefecture left it in him after an operation to treat an ulcer, a spokesman for the hospital said.

The man, now 49, went in to another hospital in late May after suffering abdominal pain.

When examinations found what was believed to be an eight-centimeter tumor, he underwent the operation to remove it. It was only then that surgeons realized it was a towel.

"The towel was greenish blue, although we are not sure about its original color," the Asahi General Hospital spokesman said, adding it had been crumpled to the size of a softball.

Asahi hospital officials visited the man and apologized, he said.

The former patient has no plans to sue the hospital, which is in talks with him over compensation or other measures, the official said.

© Wire reports

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

9 Comments
Login to comment

free towels anyone?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

“The towel was greenish blue, although we are not sure about its original color,” Eww! Another reason I'll never be cut out for the medical profession. Those people are angels. Imagine the stench.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

It is good that he is keeping good health but the best thing would be... this towel will fetch record price that is to say the compensation amount he be getting behind the doors.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

25 years of discomfort. how do you compensate for that?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

This is not the first time that something like this has happened. You occassionally hear horror stories of clamps and cotton wool being left in people after surgery. As such, during medical training (either as a doctor or as a medic in the armed forces), it is always rammed home that you have to keep track and count of everything that is used. In this case, the guy was lucky that he did not die from blood poisoning.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I hope he gets a lot of money out of them

0 ( +0 / -0 )

ah, the Japanese medical system under fire again... bl00dy hell, is this 1700`s

0 ( +0 / -0 )

glad they mentioned the color...that was kinda important

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Maybe he gets 1000 Yen per year. Or 1200 if he is lucky. This seems to be how it works.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites