Toddler Castrated By Mistake After Botched Testicle Operation

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Toddler Castrated By Mistake After Botched Testicle Operation

We put a tremendous amount of trust into the hands of medical professionals every time we go in for a procedure, and most of the time that trust is justified. But doctors are human just like everybody else, and they make mistakes. Unfortunately, one of those mistakes might just have cost a toddler his future chances of having children.

The unnamed two year old boy was admitted to Bristol Royal Hospital for Children last week for a completely routine operation - one of his testicles had yet to descend, so surgeons were going in to free it up. The procedure typically takes a half an hour, but the boy’s parents were left waiting for much longer. Then a doctor came out and gave them the bad news: one of his cohorts had mistakenly inserted the camera they use to monitor the procedure into the wrong side of the boy’s scrotum, damaging his testicle beyond repair.

The prognosis wasn’t good: the mix-up has potentially permanently removed the toddler’s ability to sire children. Needless to say, the family is very upset.

The hospital issued a statement, reading “As soon as our staff members realised what had happened, they met with the family, told them what happened, and apologised again at that point. I would like to re-iterate that we take patient safety extremely seriously here and also the quality of our clinical care. As a result, a serious incident investigation has been launched. We will keep the family informed and involved in this process.”

Read more at Metro.