A man in Vietnam was walking around for 18 years with evidence of a cutting-edge medical mistake ― a pair of surgical scissors stuck inside his body.
On Saturday, doctors removed the scissors from the abdomen of 54-year-old Ma Van Nhat. The tool was discovered Dec. 27 during a routine medical check, according to Tuoitre News.
The six-inch scissors were found on the left side of the belly, next to the colon. Doctors said the rusty scissors were stuck to organs.
Amazingly, Nhat rarely suffered pain until recently. He was prescribed ulcer medications on occasion, according to Reuters.
Nhat said he believes the scissors found their way into his body in 1998, when he had surgery at Bac Kan Hospital following a traffic crash.
The hospital’s director, Trinh Thi Luong, is now taking great pains to find out who may have left the scissors inside Nhat.
“Even if they are already retired, we will still inform them,” Luong said, according to Reuters. “This is a lesson to all doctors.”
Nhat is scheduled to be released from the hospital in about a week, according to UPI.com.
The mistake adds to blunders attributed to the Vietnamese medical system. In July, a 60-year-old male patient was misdiagnosed as “pregnant,” according to E.VnExpress.net.
That same month, another man paid $250 for an operation on his left leg, only to discover that the doctor did surgery on the right leg instead.
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