Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Scary !

A Man in hospital for an ear operation realised something was wrong when nurses started to shave his chest before surgery. John Jeffrey, 40, spoke out to alert staff just moments before he was due to receive an anaesthetic.

The customer services worker, who was due for treatment to repair a perforated ear-drum, had mistakenly been booked in for a lung op. He believes there was a mix-up with his medical records, as he has previously had surgery for a collapsed lung.

Last night, John said: "If they had gone ahead with the pre-med, I would have ended up in the operating theatre.Thank goodness I said something when I did. The surgeon and nurses seem mortified when they realised what had happened.I can laugh about it now - but that's because I spoke out in time."

He is partially deaf in his right ear after an accident and now faces a delay while his op is re-scheduled.He was admitted to East Kilbride's Hairmyres Hospital on Friday.

John, who lives in the Lanarkshire town, said at first he assumed his chest was being shaved as part of the usual procedure.He explained: "When I had surgery on my chest before, they shaved my thigh so a monitor lead could be attached. I assumed something similar was happening with my ear operation, so I did not say anything.

"In any case, you put your faith in the doctors and nurses.They are the experts and you take it for granted they know what they're doing."

It only dawned on him he had been booked for the wrong op after a nurse mentioned something he knew related to lung surgery.John said: "When I told the nurse and anaesthetist that I was in for an ear operation, they looked shocked and called the surgeon.He said they don't even do ear operations at that hospital."

It's understood the blunder happened after John remained on Hairmyres' waiting list following his lung operation at Glasgow Royal Infirmary.

A Hairmyres spokeswoman said: "Patients on our lung waiting list are sent a letter and telephoned ahead of surgery.We would expect anyone who has had their surgery in another board area to inform us of that before they came to hospital."

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