LOS ANGELES (AP) – An Air Force veteran has filed a federal claim after an
> operation at a Veterans Administration hospital in which a healthy testicle
> was removed instead of a potentially cancerous one.
> Benjamin Houghton, 47, was to have had his left testicle removed June 14 at
> the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center because there was a chance it could
> harbor cancer cells. It also was atrophied and painful.
> But doctors mistakenly removed the right testicle, according to medical
> records and the claim, which seeks $200,000 for future care and unspecified
> damages. He still hasn’t had the other testicle removed.
> “At first I thought it was a joke,” Houghton told the Los Angeles Times.
> “Then I was shocked. I told them, ‘What do I do now?'”
> Houghton, his wife, Monica, and their attorney, Dr. Susan Friery, said they
> hoped to get the VA’s attention by going public with the situation.
> Dr. Dean Norman, chief of staff for the Greater Los Angeles VA system, has
> formally apologized to Houghton and his wife.
> “We are making every attempt that we can to care for Mr. Houghton, but it’s
> in litigation, and that’s all we can tell you,” he said. The hospital
> changed practices as a result of the case, he added.
>
April 6, 2007 at 2:09 pm
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