VietNamNet Bridge – HCM City’s People’s Hospital 115 on May 26 suspended two doctors and two nurses who performed an appendectomy and left a cotton pad in the patient’s belly.

After an appendix operation, a 44-year-old man had a stomachache for several months. The pain ended on May 24, when doctors of HCM City’s Trung Vuong hospital removed a pad designed to stop bleeding at the appendix incision that was mistakenly left in his abdomen by doctors at People’s Hospital 115.

The man has recovered and he remarked that his operation occurred around six months ago. He went to several hospitals, but they couldn’t find the reason forf his recent pain.

The People’s Hospital 115 suspended related health workers from work for investigation.

Doctors said that leaving medical equipment in patients’ abdomens happens sometimes because the surgeons don’t check carefully before closing the incision.

PV