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Published 14:33 07 Aug 2026 GMT
A grandmother has spoken of the devastating moment she discovered she had undergone the wrong surgery after hospital staff allegedly confused her with another patient who shared the same first name.
Debra Buchanan, from Australia, says she was left permanently disfigured earlier this year after what was meant to be a routine operation at the Joan Kirner Women’s and Children’s Hospital at Sunshine Hospital.
Buchanan had been admitted to have a cancerous skin lesion removed from her pelvic area. Instead, she says surgeons mistakenly removed a significant portion of her external genitalia after confusing her with another patient.
Recalling the events before the operation, Buchanan said staff called out the wrong name before reassuring her she was the correct patient.
“They called Deborah, and I said, ‘Did you mean Buchanan?’ And they said, ‘Oh yes, you’ll do.’”
She remembered another patient speaking up at the same time.
“The woman next to me said, ‘I’m Deborah,’ and they said, ‘Oh no, we’ve got the right one.’”
Having worked for years as a dental nurse, Buchanan said she was shocked by the way patients were being identified.
She explained that she would never have addressed a patient using only their first name in her own profession.
After surgery, Buchanan realized that something was seriously wrong when she went to the bathroom and began bleeding heavily.
“She came in, I said, ‘Can you explain why I’m bleeding so badly?’ She said, ‘Oh, that’s part of the operation.’ And I said, ‘What operation?’ I said, ‘I had it on here,’ and as I touched it, it was still there.”
A junior surgeon later examined her, but Buchanan said they appeared confused when she questioned why surgery had been carried out on a completely different part of her body.
She contacted her husband to tell him the hospital had performed the wrong procedure before eventually being discharged with what she described as very little explanation.
“I got a little bit to say that because of the two Debras, and also they were understaffed at the time. I found it very difficult to listen to,” she said.
Despite the horrific experience, Buchanan later had to return to the same hospital to undergo the operation she had initially required to remove the skin cancer.
“I was terrified,” she admitted.
She said the incident has had a lasting emotional impact, leaving her anxious whenever she attends medical appointments.
“Every time I have to go to the doctor, anxious; I’ve lost my confidence.”
Buchanan added: “You can’t make a mistake on a person. It’s not like breaking a cup. It’s life to them.”
Medical negligence lawyer Erin Monsalve Fear of Carbone Lawyers described the alleged mistake as almost unimaginable.
“The fact that she was never consulted nor consented appropriately for the surgery prior to it taking place, and I think that’s one of the biggest things that it boils down to,” she said.
In a statement, Western Health chief operating officer John Ferraro said patient safety remained the organization's highest priority.
“Due to our obligations to protect patient privacy and confidentiality, we are unable to comment on the care of any individual patient,” he said.
Ferraro added that, under Victoria's Statutory Duty of Candour requirements, when an adverse patient event occurs the health service provides “an apology, meet[s] with the patient, undertake[s] a review of the incident, and share[s] the findings and actions taken to help prevent a recurrence.”
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Published 11:00 08 Feb 2018 GMT
Published 19:35 11 Oct 2018 GMT
Going for surgery is a really nerve-wracking experience. Even if you're only going under the knife for a few minutes, you still have to entrust your life and health to a complete stranger. You feel helpless, and at the back of your mind is the fear that the operation could go horribly wrong. One person who has had the misfortune of suffering this very real experience is estate agent Ferrell Johnson, whose botched breast-reduction surgery led to her ending up with a "third breast” under her armpit.
65-year-old Ferrell, who hails from California, decided to have her E-cup breasts reduced to a B, as a result of her sore back. The operation was covered by her insurance, and she wasn't worried about it. However, it took about two weeks for Ferrell to see the results of her surgery since her scars were covered by bandages. When those bandages came off, Ferrell discovered to her horror that she'd been left with fat necrosis - a lump of dead and damaged tissue under her arm which was leaking pus.
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Commenting on her condition, Ferrell stated:
"I’ve been left in a mess. I have a fat necrosis in my right breast, and a third breast- made up of fat and tissue – under my arm. The first time I saw the lump in the mirror, I cried and cried. I’ve always been a go-getter, so it isn’t in my nature to feel this way. This has caused so many emotional issues. I’m constantly so conscious of what I wear and how I move, as the breast can fall out of the side of my top. I’m horrified at the thought of being seen in public like that"
She added:
"I went under general anaesthetic for the procedure in March 2017, so by the time I woke up, the damage was already done ... The first time I properly saw myself, I was home alone and caught sight of a lump in the mirror. I took a proper look and just burst into tears. It looked literally like a third breast."
Unfortunately for Ferrell, the lump is extremely painful, and she's now embarrassed to leave her home without being attended:
"I was excreting lumps out of my nipple. At first, they looked like long, thin worms, and I thought, ‘Oh my god, what is that?’ Then one day, a marble-sized piece of tissue fell away ... I was put on antibiotics, but I have been left with some fatty lumps that need removing. There’s one piece of dead tissue, measuring two centimetres by three centimetres, that causes severe pain."
Ferrell will now need reconstructive surgery to repair the damage to her body, and has even written to reality show Botched to ask their producers for help. However, she hopes that, in sharing her story, she's encouraged others to be more careful about which surgeons they consult.
Published 16:47 04 Dec 2019 GMT
Comedian Ricky Gervais slammed a transgender after she complained about being denied service at a gynecologist.
Jessica Yaniv, 32, took to Twitter to criticize a gynecologist practice, saying she was "shocked.. and confused... and hurt" after she was told by the practice, "we don't serve transgender patients".
A different transgender woman wants compensation from a railway company for being called 'Sir':
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Yaniv tweeted about the ''injustice'' on December 2, writing: "So a gynecologist office that I got referred to literally told me today that "we don't serve transgender patients. And me, being me, I'm shocked.. and confused... and hurt. Are they allowed to do that, legally? Isn't that against the college practices?"
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"Gynecologists form a part of the multidisciplinary team who engage with transgender and non‐binary patients, either as part of the transition stage performing surgery or managing pre‐ or post‐transition gynecological problems," Yaniv adds in a separate tweet.
"The @cpsbc_ca has confirmed to me that the refusal I’ve received is discrimination under the BC Human Rights Code and against their code of Ethics."
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She concludes by saying she'll file a complaint with the College of Physicians and Surgeons about the offending clinic.
"Trans people need to be included, not excluded from society," Yaniv writes. "Pre and post gender affirming surgery care is super important!"
Unmoved by Yaniv's complaints of injustice, Gervais tweeted this sarcastic response to his 13.5 million followers: "It's disgusting that a qualified gynecologist can refuse to check a lady's c**k for ovarian cancer."
"What if her b***ocks are pregnant? She could lose the baby. I'm outraged," the 58-year-old continued.
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Gervais got a mixed response for calling Yaniv out.
"I see the point that you’re trying to make, but I don’t understand why," one said. "It costs you nothing to just let it go, and by calling it out the way you have you’re not only being cruel but you’re inviting others to do the same. There is no kindness here."
"This really isn't difficult to understand," another disagreed. "Gynecologists treat female reproductive organs - real ones, not imaginary ones. If you ain't got 'em, go elsewhere."
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Gervais later adds: "One simple google search and YOU would know that the person I was ridiculing is a serial troll who tried to get vulnerable women of color to wax her balls and then tried to sue them for refusing."
The After Life writer and star is referring to reports that this particular transgender activist tried to sue a beauty salon for refusing to wax her privates.
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Yaniv sought 15,000 Canadian dollars from each beautician, but the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal ruled in favor of the salon as they didn’t advertise waxes for male genitalia.
Published 17:01 29 Mar 2024 GMT
After a woman tragically died following a cosmetic procedure that went wrong, her loved ones were reportedly informed about her death by the doctor through Instagram.
Donna Bee, a 30-year-old British beautician from Wrexham, Wales, traveled to Majorca to undergo a correctional procedure, but things quickly went wrong.
Bee had initially undergone a breast augmentation procedure by the same surgeon at Clinica Luz years ago but returned to address an imbalance, as per the Sun.
Tragically, after her return to Spain in September of last year, Bee - who had a pre-existing heart condition - suffered a reaction to the anesthesia, which led to a heart attack.
Despite being admitted to intensive care for nearly two weeks, Bee later passed away on September 13.
Her family has now revealed startling details about the lack of precautions taken by the clinic, alleging that all consultations were conducted via email.
To add to that, upon their arrival at Clinica Luz in Palma, they were met with confusion and conflicting accounts from the surgeon.
According to the Majorcan newspaper Ultima Hora, Spain's National Police force has announced the arrest of the clinic's manager and an anesthetist.
The 69-year-old manager has been charged with the Spanish equivalent of gross negligence manslaughter and performing surgery despite being disqualified. Complicating matters, he is currently serving a sentence for medical negligence and fraud, necessitating the police to request his release from jail in Palma in order to detain him once more.
Another anesthetist - whose role in Bee's surgery was described as "minor" by authorities - has also been arrested and charged with homicide due to professional negligence.
Somewhat unbelievably, the primary surgeon who conducted the operation passed away in Switzerland two months after the surgery from a terminal illness.
Further investigation has revealed disturbing irregularities surrounding the procedure. The police report suggests that CPR was inadequately administered, worsening Bee's condition, which ultimately led to severe brain damage while she was in cardiac arrest.
According to sources close to Donna, the clinic - who had been left without a next of kin to contact - shockingly chose to relay the distressing news of her condition to a friend via Instagram messenger.
Additionally, despite not speaking Spanish, the patient was ordered to sign a consent form entirely in Spanish.
A GoFundMe page was set up by Bee's family in September, in an attempt to bring her home so that she could have received treatment in the UK.
"National Police officers have arrested a 69-year-old man responsible for managing a clinic in Palma where he also worked as a practitioner, for crimes of gross negligence manslaughter and breaching a medical ban following the death of a patient," a statement from police read.
The statement went on: "Our homicide unit began an investigation and after gathering together all the documentation related to the medical intervention and taking statements from health professionals, arrested the director of the clinic who was also a medical practitioner.
"Investigators have accused one of the other two health professionals who participated in the surgery of the same type of manslaughter crime as the clinic director. The other man cannot be accused of any crime due to his sudden death two months after the surgery."
The Police went on to say that the signed patient consent forms were written in Spanish, and according to Donna's family, she doesn't know how to speak the language.
Published 16:06 12 Sep 2019 GMT
An Australian girl was left with a toe stitched to her hand, after having to have her thumb amputated.
Britney Thomas, who hails from Victoria, Australia, was pursuing her dream job a professional cricket player when a rather routine trip to the hospital took a turn.
The world's smallest baby was born at Sharp Mary Birch Hospital:
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The then-17-year-old fractured her thumb while playing cricket in Hong Kong. She was sent to Latrobe Regional Hospital for an operation to repair it by the local orthopaedic surgeon.
Before the operation, a tourniquet was put on her to restrict blood flow during the surgery, as is standard. Britney was informed that it would be taken off after the procedure was done.
Five days later, however, she realised that something was amiss. Per news.com.au, Britney said that when medics took the cast off to get a better look, it transpired that the tourniquet hadn't been removed after the surgery. Someone at the hospital has incorrectly written down that it had been removed.
She told Four Corners that it was “the worst pain I think I have ever been through”.
Leanne Keating, Britney's mum told news.com.au, "They pulled the plaster off and it was very dark and looked dead. The skin was all yucky. I was mortified, it was horrible."
Because Britney's blood had been restricted for so long, her thumb could not be saved.
"They took me into the emergency and they were like, 'You're probably going to lose your thumb'," Britney continued. "I was in so much disbelief and I was like, 'What's going to happen to me? What's going to happen to my cricket?'"
Britney proceeded to have most of her thumb amputated, with what was left being stitched to her groin for six weeks to get the nerves and arteries working again.
Her big toe was then removed and stitched onto her hand to construct a new thumb and a replacement toe was created using her hipbone.
The CEO at Latrobe Regional Hospital, Peter Craighead, spoke to news.com.au, stating: "I felt sick in my stomach. We thought we had robust procedures and policies in place to ensure we had a very safe environment."
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