A Russian woman has spent two decades living with a 12-inch tube embedded in her stomach after an alleged surgical blunder.
The unidentified patient, 50, had the rubber tube put in after suffering a stroke in 2000. It was designed to keep her fed in intensive care.
But, local reports suggest that doctors forgot to remove one part of the tubing near her stomach. Somehow, it caused no symptoms.
The mistake was only uncovered recently when she went to the hospital in Ulan-Ude, close to the Mongolian border, for a regular check-up.
The unidentified patient, 50, had the rubber tube put in after suffering a stroke in 2000. It was designed to keep her fed in intensive care
Doctors at the Republican Clinical Hospital did a full body examination and found a ‘strange dark object’ in the patient’s stomach, near the intestines.
Surgeons forgot about the probe
A spokesman told Central European News: ‘The patient got better [after the stroke], got released out of hospital, and nobody remembered that probe.’
The woman reportedly said she never had a clue that the probe had been left as she had never felt any discomfort, according to Sibnet.
Dr Pavel Tverdokhlebov, based at the hospital, recently removed the tube and said the woman is recovering well from surgery.
But, local reports suggest that doctors forgot to remove one part of the tubing near her stomach. Somehow, it caused no symptoms
What did the hospital say?
A report released by the hospital said: ‘A woman underwent a stroke at the age of 33, treated her in one of the Ulan-Ude hospitals.
‘During which she was fed to the stomach through a probe during the intensive care period, some of which were later left or forgotten.
‘The patient went on the amendment, left, no one remembered the probe. With a foreign body longer than 30 centimeters, the young woman lived for 17 years.’
Commenting on the story in the Russian media, shocked readers said it highlighted the ‘stupid medical care’.
They also questioned how many other people may still have foreign bodies from operations years ago.
A similar tale…
It comes after MailOnline reported of a similar tale in January.
A Vietnamese man who went to hospital with stomach pains was found to have a pair of surgical scissors in his abdomen – from an operation 18 years ago.
Ma Van Nhat, 54, underwent surgery in 1998 after a car accident, and carried on his life oblivious to the huge medical mistake.
He only discovered doctors left the scissors behind when they closed him up, and the implement was finally removed in an operation at the start of the year.