A young man lived for seven years with a 10-inch tube left in his stomach after surgery.
For seven years, Nelson housed a 10-inch tube in his womb. A pipe forgotten there, in his bowels, for seven long years. the Parisian echoes a particularly astonishing case of medical error on a young man, operated for appendicitis when he was 15 years old. Today, the young man is 22 and has just had two pieces of intestine removed.
The origin of his illness dates back to 2010. Nelson is treated for acute appendicitis in Orsay (Essonne). He had his appendix removed but four months later experienced severe pain on the side of his body, under his right arm.
Diagnostic wandering
During seven years, he consulted twenty times. “CT scan, ultrasound, MRI, more and more exams and the same diagnosis: you have nothing, it’s muscular”, says the Parisian. The young man suffers so much that on several occasions, he has to give up going to work in Rungis, where he is an order picker. His girlfriend thinks he’s adding a little more.
Until that night in May 2017. The pain snatches him from sleep, he wakes his companion crying and implores her to take her to the hospital. Return to Orsay. Diagnosis: lung infection. Five minutes later, the doctor changes his mind: pulmonary embolism. Forty-eight hours later, another version: liver infection. Then finally no, it would be a tropical worm in the liver. But weird, the dewormers do nothing.
And for good reason. No parasite in Nelson’s liver, transferred to the Kremlin-Bicêtre hospital (Val-de-Marne), specializing in tropical diseases. By auscultating him, the doctors immediately saw that the trail of the tropical worm did not hold water. A radio confirms their suspicions.
Pierced organs
The young man actually has a foreign body in his stomach, left there as a result of surgery. Nelson makes the connection with his appendicitis, seven years earlier. The piece of plastic has since migrated into his body and pierced his organs.
It will take three hours for the surgeons to remove the tube and seven days for Nelson to be released from the hospital. Today, he is resting at home, on sick leave. He has difficulty walking and still suffers from a liver infection. Her scarred belly forever bears the imprint of this heavy mistake.
The young man will initiate legal action, specifies the Parisian. His lawyer, Me Jean-Michel Scharr, specialist in medical errors, underlines the tragic consequences of this oversight: “In general, doctors notice it quickly and operate again. Seven years is exceptional. His youth is shattered. “
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