The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-01-24
BLUNDERs OF SURGEONS.
Doctors Have Left Their Tools Sewed
I'D in the Patients Body.
From the Pittsburg Dispatch.

From the P1ttSburg Dispatch.
The forgetfulness of an English sur
geon has condemned a patient upon whom
he performed the operation of laparot-
omy to carry around a pair of forceps in
his abdomen for the remainder of his
natural life 1t CHANGED that during the
operation 1t was found necessary to use
a pair of forceps and allow them to re-
main for a moment in the abdomen. In
his haste to sew up the incision and place
the patient in proper Condition to be re-
stored to consciousness, this doctor, Sir
Spencer Wells of London, forgot all
about his instrument, and the result was
that the forceps remained in the abdo-
men. Strangely enough, the patient has
thus far suffered no ill effects, and as
his condition was such as to render an
other operation very dangerous, it is more
than likely the little bit of steel will
never be removed.
This curious accident is by no means
without precedent. Cases where instru-
ments are left in the human body by OPP
Grating surgeons are not frequent, to be
sure, but still they do occur. This same
Sir Spencer Wells, since the fact of his
recent forgetfulness has been made pub
lie, admits it is the second time in his
experience in which the same thing hap
pened. DR.. Enrico PLATTE, a Spanish sur
geon, not long ago left compress in a
wound, or rather in the abdomen of a pa
tient on whom he had operated. No evil
results were reported in this case. And
DR.. Jean Terrillon, a well-known physi-
clan Of Paris, did exactly what Sir
Spencer Wells admits doing. 1t is also
stated that a physician of Montreal, Can
ada, while performing laparotomy on a
patient had occasion to place a roll of
iodoform gauze I'm the abdomen. Hastily
closing the incision, he forgot to remove
the gauze. The patient did not know and
to this day is not aware or what hap
pened to him.
Dr. Jose Severnao, a physician of Mad
rid, in operating on a patient in similar
manner, used two binders These he ne
elected to remove, and the patient still
carries them about with him. A case Is
also cited of an Italian surgeon of note,
who left steel probe in the interior OF a
patient The patient suffered pain for a
time, but this afterwards disappeared, and
it is supposed that the probe became so
encysted as almost to form portion of
the doctors forgetfulness.
A rather embarrassing incident OF this
sort once befell a New York doctor. IL
CHANGED that he was called upon to per-
form laparotomy. After the operation was
over and the incision made closed, the
doctor missed a small sponge which he
had been using. lie searched everywhere,
but It was not to be found. Then he be-
came convinced that he had accidentally
dropped It into the opening made in the
abdomen. Whatever was to be done had
to be done quickly, 50 without delay he
cut the stitches with which the incision
had been closed and carefully examined
the interior of that portion OF the body.
No sponge could be discovered. There
was nothing to be done but TO close the
incision again and trust to Providence that
the sponge was not there. After the pa
tient had recovered consciousness great
was the DOCTORS relief TO find the missing
sponge in a pail OF water which had beeen
standing near.