Doctors at Vietnam-Germany Hospital in Hanoi, one of country’s top surgical hospitals, were discovered to have performed an operation on the wrong leg of a patient on July 19.
The 37 year-old patient from Hanoi's Ung Hoa District has nerve problems affecting his left leg, causing him walk lame. Doctors at Vietnam-Germany Hospital said that he needs a surgery.
After the patient was taken into the operating-room, assistant technicians mistakenly used the antiseptic for his right hand. So, surgeons thought that the problem was in the right leg and then conducted the operation on it.
When the patient recovered his consciousness, he detected the surgery on the wrong leg. At that time, he was asked to pay for more money to the surgery on his left leg.
Professor Tran Binh Giang, Deputy Director of Vietnam-Germany Hospital said the surgical team was requested to write a report about the case.
"It is the serious mistake by the entire surgery team, particularly as they asked the patient to pay more money for the operation on his left leg," Giang admitted.
The hospital leaders directly apologised to the patient and his family about this error. He will be totally exempted from paying for the surgery as well as treatment costs during the time at the hospital, the deputy director said.