Florida surgeon mistakenly removes patient's liver instead of spleen, causing him to die, widow says

www.nbcnews.com Florida surgeon mistakenly removes patient's liver instead of spleen, causing him to die, widow says

A general surgeon removed William Bryan's liver instead of his spleen, causing his death on the operating room table, according to an attorney for Beverly Bryan.

A Florida surgeon mistakenly removed a man’s liver instead of his spleen, causing him to die on the operating table, a lawyer for the man’s widow alleges.

William Bryan, 70, of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, underwent surgery on Aug. 21, at Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast hospital in Miramar, Florida, because of spleen abnormalities, according to a statement from the personal injury firm Zarzaur Law, based in Pensacola, Florida.

18 comments

I'll just bookmark this for when I really fuck up at my IT job and cause some data loss.

30
- Prod looks an awful lot like dev...
  
  3
How?

Shaknovsky told Beverly Bryan her husband’s spleen was so diseased that it was four times bigger than normal and it had moved to the other side of his body

Oh, of course. I'm sure organs do that sort of thing all the time.

21
- "This spleen is so diseased it's in the exact same place as and looks just like a liver"
  
  14
  
  If it flops like a liver and drops like a liver... it's obviously a spleen
  
  3
- I mean, there is an extremely rare condition where basically all of your internal organs are mirrored or flipped from their normal orientation... (situs inversus, roughly 1 in 10,000 people are estimated to have it)
  
  But...
  
  If that were the case here, it'd be immediately obvious to any one with basic anatomical knowledge.
  
  Hope this dumbass goes to jail.
  
  6
  
  Hope this dumbass goes to jail.
  
  Why? Unless intent can be proven, this is a fuck-up and nothing else. Jailtime would benefit literally no one in this case.
  
  0
- My appendix was apparently on the other side. It took them forever to diagnose and I lived with chronic appendicitis as a result for over a year. That was fun. It took my ass going septic and going to the ER for them to even bother to run a CT and find the source of the problem. Even when I said are you sure this isn't appendicitis? No raiderkev, your appendix is on the other side. This is just indigestion. Fuck you urgent care.
  
  3
  
  I assume that in this case, they did the imaging before starting the surgery. Even if the spleen really was on the wrong side, they should have known in advance.
  
  1
- If I was a surgeon I could see myself making that mistake
  
  2
As a surgeon, I have a lot of questions. But I have trouble accepting a personal injury attorney's statement at face value when they stand to benefit from a judgement or settlement, too.

14
The last time Amelia Earhart's airplane was serviced was Florida.

8
Well of course the doctor thought the spleen was abnormal if they mistook a liver for it

6
Florida has a doctor shortage and will only get worse because of the abortion ban and other attacks on minorities by the Christo fascists running the state. I bet mistakes like this will be more common in the future

5
I've made a very similar mistake in Rimworld, tho I blame the menu for having "harvest liver" so close to "install bionic leg"

3

You've viewed 18 comments.