Surgeons at
Vietnam’s largest surgical center have been suspended after operating on the
wrong leg of a patient with leg paralysis and asking his family to cover the
cost of their mistake.
All hospital employees involved in the
operation were placed on a forced temporary leave on Wednesday, according to
Vietnam-Germany Hospital in Hanoi, which is Vietnam’s largest surgical
facility.
The surgery team from Orthopedic Department 3
performed a leg operation on Tuesday aimed at restoring functions to a
patient’s paralyzed left leg.
However, instead of performing the surgery on
his left leg, the surgery team operated on the right one before realizing their
mistake.
They then completed the surgery on the
affected limb but requested additional fees, frustrating the patient’s
relatives.
Answering Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper
reporters, the hospital’s spokesperson confirmed the incident, saying that the
infirmary had carried out an internal investigation and will hold the medical
staff concerned accountable.
The hospital will pay all treatment fees and
take full responsibility to observe the patient’s health in the future, Tran
Binh Giang, deputy director of Vietnam-Germany Hospital, said.
The healthcare center also arranged a meeting
with the patient’s relatives on Tuesday evening, a hospital representative
said, adding that the man’s right leg function has been affected to some degree
after the surgery.
