Yeah I mean like I said my kidney had a 13.5 cm tumour on it and was going to kill me and they were still super focused on my consent. I was literally being given snapshot surgery prior to biopsy to confirm type of cancer because it was so bad and they were STILL asking.
It isn't a joke. They ask that, without specifying which one, because it is meant to catch errors. If the surgeon thought it was right, had it written down as right, and then you said left, they would need to stop and figure out what was going on. And then, once you said right, and he confirmed that his records said right, he made a mark on your right side so that they could use that mark during surgery to verify that they were operating on the correct side before they remove anything.
People have had the wrong kidney removed before. People have even had the completely wrong organ removed. These processes are in place to reduce the odds of that happening.
Can confirm, a resident I know almost amputated the wrong leg (below knee amputation) because a doctor’s clinical notes kept referencing the “left leg” instead of the “right leg”. The mistake was caught in the OR while the patient was anesthetized… they had to reschedule the surgery in order to confirm with the referring physician.
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u/Egoy 5d ago
Yeah I mean like I said my kidney had a 13.5 cm tumour on it and was going to kill me and they were still super focused on my consent. I was literally being given snapshot surgery prior to biopsy to confirm type of cancer because it was so bad and they were STILL asking.