Doctor accidentally performs leg surgery on wrong patient

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A doctor in New Delhi, India performed leg surgery on a patient with a head injury. The patient now cannot walk.

Vijendra Tyagi figured into an accident, which left him with minor injuries on his head and face. He was confined at the Sushruta Trauma Centre run by the local government, and was scheduled for surgery on April 19, as reported by The Times of India.

The patient’s son Ankit Tyagi, noticed his father Vijendra had a pin inserted into his leg after his operation. Hours after the 9:30 a.m. surgery, a corrective procedure was done to remove the pin.

The negligent surgeon reportedly mistook Vijendra with another patient who had a fractured leg since both were in the same ward.

Because Vijendra was set for head surgery, he was under general anesthesia and did not notice the wrong procedure. Drilling a pin into a fractured leg only requires local anesthesia.

However, the blunder was costly: according to Ankit, apart from the pain from his injury, “but, due to the needless procedure, he is now unable to walk.”

Though he and his family did not take legal action against the unidentified surgeon, the doctor is now “barred from conducting surgeries without supervision with immediate effect,” said the center’s medical superintendent. Niña V. Guno/JB

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