You trust your doctor to take care of your body, especially when you are planning on having a procedure as serious as surgery. Unfortunately for Sharon Birks her surgeon made a huge mistake that could have killed her. The 42-year-old mother of six had undergone a hysterectomy at Royal Derby Hospital in England and all seemed well except for some abdominal pains.
The shocker in this story is WHAT was causing Birks' discomfort and how something like this could happen to YOU.
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The mom felt pain for three days after her operation and had been examined by doctors and given antiobiotics under the assumption she had an infection. Instead, Birks discovered during a bathroom break that the surgeon had left a latex glove inside her!
She recalled feeling as if something had dropped in her stomach and what proceeded is straight out of a horror film. "Then I felt something rubbery and the next thing you know, I'm pulling out this great big surgeon's glove–and there's blood gushing everywhere," she explained.
Luckily for her, she was still admitted to the hospital at the time it happened and got the attention of a nurse. Doctors then did a full body examination, but Birks remained upset by the whole ordeal–rightfully so. "This should have never happened–I was actually told just how careful I needed to be following the operation," she said.
The hospital has since issued an apology to the mother and promised to launch an investigation regarding the horror she went through. Honestly, I don't think an apology will do!
The hospital is responsible for caring for its patients and clearly did a terrible job especially during a delicate surgery. If Birks was told to be careful post-operation, doctors should have been even more attentive. Leaving something as toxic as a glove in a patient's body could have cost them a lawsuit. They're lucky Birks caught it in time because if she hadn't found the glove who knows what damage it could have caused her. I hope the hospital get to the bottom of this and makes sure to be MORE careful with their patients in the future.
Image via Thinkstock
