A man in Rome had his jaw mistakenly removed after a hospital confused him for a patient who was suffering from a deadly tumor.
The unnamed 35-year-old had gone into the Umberto I Dental Clinic in the Italian capital on May 20 to get his wisdom tooth removed, as well as a cyst in his mouth.
Dentists at the clinic carried out a biopsy on the cyst, but the results were reportedly swapped for those of a man suffering from a malignant tumor in his jaw.
So when the patient – who had been in good health – returned to the clinic a few weeks later to collect his results, he was shocked to discover that the growth was cancerous.
Due to the aggressive nature of the tumor, doctors told him he would have to undergo a jaw removal as well as chemotherapy.
The surgery left him with permanent damage to his face, including paralysis on the right side of his mouth.
But a month after the operation, when doctors carried out follow-up testing, they were more shocked to discover that the results for the deadly tumor had come back negative.
Doctors told him chemotherapy was no longer necessary, which made him grow suspicious over the legitimacy of the results.
A man in Rome had his jaw mistakenly removed after a hospital confused him for a patient who was suffering from a deadly tumor. The mistake was made at the Umberto I Dental Clinic (pictured)
Pictured: Colloseum in Rome. The patient has since filed a complaint for his permanent injuries, and his case is now being taken up by the Prosecutor’s Office in Rome
The surgery left the patient with permanent damage to his face, including paralysis on the right side of his mouth
Wanting a second opinion, the patient got the DNA of the biological material checked by a lab at the Catholic University of Rome.
The results confirmed that he was in fact not suffering from a deadly tumor, implying that the surgery he endured had never been necessary.
Speaking to Italian news outlet Corriere della Serra the man said: ‘Even now I cannot describe my state of mind. I am alive, I am healthy, I do not have any fatal disease, but I have suffered a great deal’.
The patient has since filed a complaint for his permanent injuries, and his case is now being taken up by the Prosecutor’s Office in Rome.
An investigation is currently ongoing to understand exactly how the mistake was made and who is to blame for the mix up.
This is just the latest example of medical malpractice.
In 2017, a woman sued the NHS after a surgeon operated on the wrong side of her body and potentially damaged a healthy kidney.
Lauren Hodgson, 29, was due to undergo a minor operation to remove a stone in her left kidney at Milton Keynes Hospital in March that year.
But a mix-up by an inexperienced surgeon, described in medical jargon as a ‘never-event’, meant her right kidney was operated on instead.
Lauren was left suffering from low blood pressure, a sign that the kidneys are not working properly, and had to take time off from her job as a support worker.
She said: ‘You expect to be looked after in hospital, not for something like to happen.
‘This happened in a university teaching hospital which is training people to be surgeons.
‘If they can’t get it right, who can you rely on? My life may never be the same again.’
