Leftover from surgery puts woman in prolonged agony

NST: JOHOR BARU: After numerous visits to her surgeon, and three months in agony, a woman was shocked to find that a piece of surgical gauze was left in her abdomen during ovarian surgery.
On Feb 23, Lim Que Moi had the surgery at a private hospital. In severe pain, she went back to the surgeon seven times. The 48-year-old said the specialist dismissed her pain as a viral infection and gave her antibiotics.
Unable to bear the pain, with massive swelling of her abdomen and fluid oozing from the surgical scar, Lim consulted another doctor.
An X-ray was done and to her utter dismay a piece of surgical gauze measuring 30cm x 30cm was found, left behind when she was stitched up after the surgery.
At a news conference Lim showed reporters the blood-stained piece of gauze that was removed after a second operation at a private hospital in Batu Pahat on May 26.
Supported by her 60-year-old husband Ng Soo Juay, Lim said: "I plan to sue the doctor and hospital for damages. For three months I suffered excruciating pain all because of the negligence of the surgeon in Malacca."
She said she had spent over RM12,000 in medical costs, including RM5,000 for the original ovarian surgery.
Lim said she was especially angry over the indifference of the surgeon when she she went back complaining of severe pain.
"I went for follow-up check-ups no less than seven times. How could she not sense something was amiss? She did not even bother to send me for an X-ray. I am shocked at the apathy shown by the doctor and the hospital," she said, adding that the hospital failed to give her a satisfactory explanation when she demanded to know how this could have happened.
"I am bringing my case out in the open like this because I want others to be aware of such negligence," she added.
The surgeon and the director of the private hospital could not be reached for comment.
Ministry of Health parliamentary secretary Datuk Lee Kah Choon said he had not received any report on the case, but he would look into the matter.