Thousands of NHS patients are undergoing ‘botched’ surgery even if the WRONG organs were removed, shocking new figures reveal… including a woman who had a fallopian tube removed instead of her appendix

Thousands of NHS patients have suffered from botched procedures where the wrong organs were removed during surgery and medical equipment was left behind.

An analysis of healthcare data found that approximately 3,684 life-threatening errors were recorded by doctors between 2015 and 2023.

The most common and most serious – so-called “never events” – involve more than 1,500 operations performed on the wrong part of the body.

One woman had one of her fallopian tubes – part of the reproductive system – removed instead of her appendix, while other patients had the wrong toe removed or were given an injection in the wrong eye.

Items such as cotton balls, clamps, surgical gloves and needles were also accidentally sewn into patients during surgery, while others were given the wrong implant, according to an analysis by accident compensation firm Claims.co.uk.

Incompetent doctors removed the wrong organs, operated on the wrong body parts or even left surgical material in the patient

One patient who underwent skull surgery was implanted with a skull plate made specifically for another patient, while others had the wrong pacemaker or stent inserted.

Some even received the wrong organ or blood transfusion for their blood type.

A “never event” is defined as a serious incident that could have been completely avoided if proper safety procedures had been followed. Most affected patients required further corrective surgery to correct the defects and spent more time in hospital.

The Patients’ Association, a charity that campaigns for better health and social care, says these mistakes have “serious physical and psychological consequences that can affect the patient for the rest of their life.”

Other errors include injecting drugs that patients should have swallowed, overdosing on the immunosuppressant methotrexate – often used to treat cancer – and incorrectly placing feeding tubes in the lungs, which can lead to potentially fatal blockages or infections.

Citing data from earlier this month, the Royal College of Surgeons described the number of avoidable errors in surgery as “unacceptable”, adding: “Learning from mistakes and using best practice and guidance to avoid such mistakes should be important to be a Doctor for everyone and every doctor is the top priority.” Surgical team across the country.”