Photo Courtesy of Thairath
BANGKOK – A 25 cm long hose was found in a patient’s stomach after a feckless surgeon left it there five years earlier. Sriwichai Hospital refused to accept responsibility for the botched surgery. The hospital chief head confirmed that the doctor had left the hose inside the patient’s stomach but argued that the patient was transferred to another hospital before the hose had to be taken out. He also insisted that the doctor did not forget.
Mr. Suriya Srisuksong, an uncle of Miss Suwaree Chatraphiwat, 23-years-old, the patient, put a complaint through to the ministry of public health - twenty of his relatives and friends also supported the complaint. Miss Chatraphiwat and her family were furious when they discovered the 25 cm long hose lodged in her bladder after an x-ray.
Mr. Suriya said that on August 20th, he took Miss Suwaree to Kasemrad Hospital in Bang Kae, Bangkok using gold card health insurance because she had a very bad stomachache and could not urinate. The first few days at the hospital proved no cause of pain, so the doctor decided to x-ray her stomach. They found a 25 cm long hose inside her bladder along with a lump of calculi. The hose had been left there for five years.
Mr. Suriya recalled that Miss Suwaree had been admitted to Sriwichai Hospital to remove a bullet head after being mistakably shot in 2004. They, however, did not know the doctor had inserted a hose inside her stomach. Kasemrad Hospital, where Miss Suwaree was transferred to, contacted Sriwichai Hospital for documents and profile records of the operation but Sriwichai only managed to send them a copy of the patients transfer papers. After many failed attempts at retrieving the information, Mr. Suriya decided to lodge complaints against Sriwichai Hospital.
Doctor Surapol Losiriwat, the head of Sriwichai Hospital stated that the patient had been admitted to the hospital after she was shot from behind: the bullet had pierced her spleen, and her condition was at the time critical. Medical teams saved her life and inserted a hose inside her bladder to drain out waste. When the patient recovered, the family requested for her to be transferred to Luangpor Taweesak hospital in Nakorn Phatom which was more affordable. Sriwichai hospital stated that they had informed the new hospital and medical officers in charge that the hose was inside the patient’s bladder.
The head of Sriwichai Hospital added that it is normal for this kind of treatment method to last for three to four weeks but that the patient was transferred before the appropriate date and was only at Sriwichai hospital for ten days. He insisted that the hospital the patient was transferred to is responsible for the hoses removal.
Courtesy of Thairath
Writer: Adrian Tse & Chet Chetchotisak
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