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Patient dies after surgeons misplace clips in stomach

Surgery OsloIllustration.Surgery.Photo: pixabay.com

A patient in Telemark died after surgeons misplaced a clip during an operation. The county governor criticised the hospital.

The error occurred when the patient had a kidney removed at Telemark Hospital in 2016 wrote Varden journal.

Before the kidney was removed, the surgeons put clips on the kidney arteries and several other arteries in the area. The clip was, however, placed incorrectly.

The reason was that the patient had a complicated condition involving hard-to-reach arteries.

Despite a worsening of the patient’s state of health after surgery, and a new operation by other surgeons, the misapplication was not detected. Soon after, the person died of blood poisoning and organ failure.

The incident was reported to the County Governor, but the case was forgotten by the administrative unit until 2018. It has now been concluded that the rules on proper health care were broken.

Despite several complicating circumstances, the hospital was criticised and was required to change routines to avoid similar situations in the future.

‘’Such serious events as this rarely happen, but when they do happen, it casts a shadow both over those directly involved and the entire hospital’’ said hospital director, Tom Helge Rønning to Varden.

There are no legal cases against the surgeons involved. Rønning said that the hospital is concerned with safeguarding them in a difficult situation.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today

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