Bungling doctors left scissors inside a female patient’s abdomen for years after cancer surgery.
Kamla Bai, 44 years old from India, underwent abdominal surgery to treat ovarian cancer in February 2022.
All went according to plan, and her tumor was removed. But for two and a half years after the operation, she suffered extreme abdominal pain and insisted doctors run tests to find the cause.
After tests did not find anything conclusive and a long list of medications failed to alleviate her pain, doctors finally performed a CT scan on November 29, 2024.
The scan revealed a pair of surgical scissors lodged next to her colon.
Surgeons believe they were left inside during her surgery and went unnoticed when doctors stitched her up.
Ms Bai underwent a second operation, and the scissors were promptly removed.
The mother-of-two is one of the estimated 1,000 people worldwide who undergo abdominal and chest surgery and subsequently have sharp, dirty surgical tools like scissors left behind.
Ms Bai and her family are now seeking accountability from the medical team and are considering pursuing legal action.
Kamla Bai (pictured here), 44, underwent surgery in 2022 for her ovarian cancer. Last month, doctors discovered they left a pair of scissors in her abdomen
The above CT scan shows the scissors in Ms Bai’s left paracolic gutter, a narrow space in the abdomen running alongside the descending colon. She suffered no complications once they were removed
According to a report from the hospital, the scissors were lodged in the woman’s left paracolic gutter, a narrow space in the abdomen running alongside the descending colon, which stores food waste before it moves to the rectum.
While Ms Bai only suffered from pain, sharp objects like scissors left in a body can lead to serious complications like internal bleeding, necrosis, infections, sepsis, and death.
Scissors are typically used during surgery to cut and dissect tissues and remove sutures and bandages.
Nurses and technicians count all tools before and after an operation, as well as during critical points.
But Ms Bai is far from the only patient to leave the hospital with a tool inside.
Last year, Brazilian politician Mato Groso had a pair of scissors left in his abdomen after he had a tumor removed from his intestine.
And in 2011, Carolyn Boerste of Kentucky had a sponge sewn into her leg during surgery. She eventually had to have her leg amputated due to complications.
While hospitals are required to check for foreign objects before stitching patients up, thousands of patients leave the operating room with something left inside them.
In the US alone, about 6,000 Americans have scissors, sponges, clamps, and gauze, among other objects, left behind after surgery.
A study in the New England Journal of Medicine suggested this is more likely to happen during emergency surgeries like appendectomies or traumas, as doctors are more rushed, than routine surgeries.
The above images show additional views of Ms Bai’s abdomen before the scissors were removed
Recent research is working to reduce the amount of incidents like this.
One 2021 study, for example, developed an AI software that was nearly 100 percent effective in finding surgical sponges in x-rays of dummies before doctors closed them up.
It also had a 90 percent success rate in interpreting scans of cadavers with sponges in them before the body was stitched up.
It’s unclear if this tool would be used specifically during or after a surgery.
Ms Bai’s family said her intense abdominal pain did not subside until the scissors were removed.
However, she suffered no complications from the bizarre incident, aside from internal scarring where the scissors were stuck, which could cause surfaces to stick together, potentially resulting in blockages.
Officials from the Kamla Raja Hospital in Gwalior, India, said a detailed report will be prepared and submitted to the authorities for further action.
Ms Bai is also now cancer free, though she undergoes routine checkups.
