From unexpected tattoos to removing the wrong limb, today we look at 9 Crazy Things Doctors
Have Actually Done!
#9.
“Lost and Found”- We’ve all seen movies or television shows where bumbling doctors
leave items inside of patients leading to hilarious results, but unfortunately these
cases actually have basis in reality.
There are over one thousand cases every year of this happening, but in one particular case
the patient suffered more than just physical damage from an item being left behind.
Daryoush Mazarei was 74 when he went in for surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical
Center-Presbyterian to have a shunt installed in his chest.
Everything seemed normal afterwards but for two years he felt increasing pain in his abdomen
and went back to the Medical Center several times insisting there was something wrong.
Where the story gets really outrageous is that instead of believing him or running any
tests, the doctors brushed it off as being a psychological problem and told him to seek
psychiatric care.
Finally receiving a CT scan from another facility, it was discovered that he had a 10-inch long
metal retractor left inside him during the operation.
The device was removed in a subsequent operation and Mazarei’s pain, which had become almost
unbearable, was finally relieved.
He promptly filed a lawsuit against the hospital and the two sides reached a settlement outside
of court.
#8.
“Physical Graffiti”- When dentist Dr. Liana Gedz went in for a Caesarean section
she got what she had hoped for, the birth of a healthy baby girl, but she also got more.
When resting in her recovery room she decided to look at her scar in the mirror, but what
she saw next to the scar was horrifying: the letters A and Z had been cut into her abdomen.
The A and Z were the initials of Allan Zarkin, the doctor who had performed the procedure.
This was the last thing that Dr. Gedz expected to see as she and Dr. Zarkin were more than
just patient and doctor, in fact, Dr. Zarkin was a friend of hers who she had invited to
dinner with her family on several occasions.
Dr. Allan Zarkin had been known for his flamboyant holier-than-thou demeanor but this incident
was extreme to say the least and he was immediately suspended--leading Dr. Zarkin to resign soon
after.
Dr. Gedz filed a lawsuit and Dr. Zarkin’s defense was that he was suffering from a type
of dementia, but the truth was he had known about his Alzheimer’s like condition for
months before the surgery.
After four months in court Dr. Zarkin was put on a 5 year medical probation and settled
with Dr. Gedz to the tune of 1.7 million dollars.
But no amount of money will make her forget the frightening branding of a demented doctor
she once called friend.
#7.
“Bank Run”- Some surgeries take several hours of intense work, so much so that the
surgeon may not have time to run the errands they need to.
But this is what surgeons sign up for and most of them know that a patient’s health
comes first.
This is not the case with Dr. David Arndt.
In 2002, Dr. Arndt was in the middle of a grueling spinal surgery that could normally
take up to 6 hours, but instead of the task at hand Dr. Arndt’s mind was somewhere else.
Nurses reported that Dr. Arndt had been asking anxiously when paychecks were supposed to
arrive and when they finally did, about three-quarters through the surgery, he asked the check-delivering
surgeon Dr. Lee Troy to take over for about 5 minutes and he bolted from the operating
room.
Apparently, Dr. Arndt needed to deposit the check into his bank before it closed and was
gone for more than half an hour, PAUSE being paged repeatedly, before returning.
Meanwhile his patient lay unconscious with his back wide open on the operating table,
unaware that his doctor had abandoned him.
However, when the patient awoke he found out that the doctor cared more about his bank
account than his patient’s spine, the patient decided to take it out on thing the doctor
loved most and sued him.
Needless to say Dr. Arndt had his medical license suspended and his life spiraled even
more out of control.
Only a couple months later he was back in court on drug and assault related charges.
One year later Arndt was finally locked up for these and numerous other crimes.
#6.
“Lady Lumps”- Alexander Baez was a successful bodybuilder, he was a runner-up in the Mr.
Universe contest and former Mr. Mexico.
One day he decided that he wanted to artificially enhance his pecs with plastic surgery, so
he searched around his home of Miami Beach for the right surgeon and he came upon Doctor
Reinaldo Silvestre.
Dr. Silvestre had been practicing in the area for over a year and had performed dozens of
surgeries, but on the day that Mr. Baez came in for surgery the dark charade that supplemented
his lavish lifestyle came crumbling down.
During the operation Baez, awoke from the surgery to find that Dr. Silvestre had given
him women’s breasts.
Going in and out of consciousness throughout the procedure Baez also witnessed some of
what a hidden video camera documented: Silvestre had used horse tranquilizers to knock his
patient out and then carelessly cut Baez and shoved the crude implants into his chest.
The hidden video camera was placed by another patient of Silvestre’s, Jeannette Bernal,
who had breast augmentation surgery that was botched so badly that she was permanently
disfigured.
When law enforcement found out about these surgeries Silvestre was arrested, but then
escaped to Belize.
What the police uncovered was that Silvestre was not a doctor at all and had no license
or background in surgery.
Though only a few patients came forward, it is suspected that there are many other people
that had similar terrifying procedures such as Baez and Bernal’s.
Known as the Butcher of South Beach, Silvestre was eventually caught years later in Belize,
where he was working at a school of medicine, and extradited to the United States.
He was sentenced to 7 years in prison and sued for millions of dollars by his victims.
#5.
“Double Booked”-A 67 year old woman who in medical journals and the media is called
by the pseudonym Joan Morris, went into a teaching hospital for a cerebral angiography
in order to have the aneurysm in her head studied.
The series of mistakes and unfortunate events that followed could have cost Mrs. Morris
her life.
Due to an inexcusable mishap involving the fact that she had a similar name to another
patient Mrs. Morris had her heart operated on for an hour.
The cardiologist was well into the complex procedure called an electrophysiology, which
involves stimulating the heart with electricity to test it’s rhythm, before he realized
he had the wrong patient.
This was only found out when the doctor who was to perform the angiography went looking
for her.
The procedure was so far along that the cardiologist had already punctured an artery and inserted
a tube into her heart.
Though they were lucky to catch it when they did, what they already had done had put Mrs.
Morris in unnecessary danger of complication such as infection, having a stroke and internal
bleeding.
Mrs. Morris didn’t suffer any of these in the end and surprisingly decided not to sue
the hospital--perhaps being too altruistic, stating that at least she found out that her
heart was healthy.
#4.
“More For Me”- Ex-Nurse Sarah May Casareto was a real-life Nurse Ratched.
When Larry V. King went in for surgery to have kidney stones removed he unfortunately
received the drug-fiending Casareto as his nurse and suffered greatly at her expense.
Nervously awaiting his operation his suspicions were slightly aroused when, though it was
supposed to be a painless procedure, Casareto told him to man up and take the pain because
there wasn’t enough time for more medication.
King was confused, but not enough to stop her as she wheeled him to the operating room.
So, the surgeon began to operate and King instantly felt the intense pain of a tube
being inserted into his kidney.
He tried to leap off the table but was held down by a technician while Casareto tried
to hush him up.
The doctor and assisting techs soon assessed that Casareto was herself anesthetized.
Upon searching her, they found that she had taken a large amount of the pain-killer Fentanyl,
which was meant for Mr. King, and was extremely inebriated.
Casareto refused to take a drug-test, quitting on the spot.
She was arrested at a later date for felony theft of a controlled substance and struck
a plea deal resulting in a meager three years probation, to the understandable chagrin of
King.
#3.
“Evil Injection”- Dr. Stephen Pack, was a married father of two, who was having an
affair with his co-worker, pediatric nurse Joy Schepis, and decided to take drastic measures
in order for his tryst to remain a secret.
When Schepis became pregnant, Dr. Pack tried to convince her to have an abortion, but Schepis
refused as she was vehemently pro-life and even told Pack that she would provide for
the baby herself.
But Dr. Pack, who Schepis said had been acting strangely even before the pregnancy, was afraid
that he would be forced to pay for the raising of the child and that his wife would divorce
him if she found out.
So, Pack took matters into his own hands and stole two syringes full of the drug methotrexate.
Methotrexate is a drug commonly used to induce labor and that Pack knew could promote a miscarriage.
One night Pack waited for Schepis to leave the hospital and followed her into a parking
garage across the street.
He then proceeded to rush her stabbing her six times in her buttocks and legs with one
of the syringes.
He screamed “I’m giving you an abortion” and called her expletives.
Pack fled but was eventually caught and detained by hospital security.
The police took him into custody and charged him with weapons possession, assault, and
the attempt to commit an unwilled abortion act.
He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years in prison.
At the time of the attack Schepis was over two-months pregnant and despite the chance
of the baby being irreparably harmed, she decided to go forward with the pregnancy and
the baby boy was born, fortunately, without any dysfunctions other than having a psychotic
father.
#2.
“Accidental Amputation”- Mr. Willie King, a long-time sufferer of diabetes whose condition
was so bad that his doctor recommended amputation of his leg, had finally reconciled his fears
and agreed to the procedure.
His doctor, Dr. Rolando Sanchez was a highly regarded surgeon and had performed amputations
like this many times before, but on this day a simple mix-up severely damaged his career
and cost Willie King both of his legs.
Because of a mistake on the blackboard in the operating room, the wrong leg was prepped
for amputation and Dr. Sanchez, who failed to double-check the leg, amputated the wrong
one.
Though it was ultimately his responsibility, several factors played into this equal parts
ridiculous and horrifying scenario.
First off, other than the blackboard being incorrect the room schedule and the computer
in the operating room also had the wrong leg.
Second, both of Mr. King’s legs were so severely afflicted with gangrene that several
other doctors testified it would’ve been only a matter of time before the other one
would’ve had to been removed.
But without a doubt it was Dr. Sanchez’ medical duty to make sure the right leg was
removed.
Mr. King eventually had the correct leg amputated and learned to walk using metal prosthetic
legs.
Dr. Sanchez was fined $10,000, barred from practicing medicine for six months and given
two years probation.
Because of this frightening flaw in procedure and other similar cases, several laws passed
that require doctors to take a timeout and triple-check everything before even touching
a scalpel.
#1.
“Invisible Cancer”- Kim Tutt was 34 years old when her dentist found a lump in her jaw.
Her doctors concluded that the lump was cancerous and told her that she had six months to live.
They also told her that if she tried a radical surgery that they would probably give her
a few more months to live, so of course she opted in.
The surgery, that involved removing the entire left side of her jaw and replacing it with
her fibula, was considered successful.
It was three months later when Tutt found out the the horrifying truth about her cancer.
She received a call from her surgeon who revealed that she never had cancer in the first place.
Apparently, her biopsy was contaminated with another from the lab resulting in her having
a permanently disfiguring surgery without cause.
Tutt was elated that she didn’t have cancer but mortified that her life had been ruined
because of a mix-up.
She has undergone several facial reconstructive surgeries but will never look the same as
she did before the unnecessary operation.
Kim Tutt sued Robert B. Wells and Pathology Associates, who were in charge of the diagnosis,
and was awarded $250,000.