British man's tattoo at the centre of surgery confusion
A 23-year-old British man left surgeons baffled when they discovered an interesting tattoo before an important procedure.
There have been many surgery horror stories about going in for one simple procedure and coming out with a lifetime of problems.
Whether it is an administrative issue or the neglect of doctors, it can be argued that there is a lot that can go wrong during a surgery.
For one unidentified British patient, it was a quirky play button tattoo that nearly ruined a simple surgery. The 23-year-old man was booked for an operation, but the procedure was not without incident.
Metro reports that the young patient's play button tattoo, positioned right over his heart, left doctors confused.
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The doctors at St George's Hospital in London were momentarily confused about whether the play button was directing them to the site of the surgery or whether it was just innocent body art.
The patient was, in fact, meant to have an operation on his right shoulder. The spot was marked with an arrow, but the hospital says more could have been done to make that clearer.
A mistake such as this is called a "wrong site surgery" and is also classified as a "never event", meaning that it should never happen. Despite this rule, 84 wrong site surgeries were reported in public hospitals in Britain in 2017.
The patient, who is recovering after the planned shoulder surgery, was nonchalant and slightly amused as he told Metro: "My parents always told me my tattoos would serve as a lesson one day, I don’t think they pictured this."
Do you have a similar near-disaster story about surgery?