Veteran gets wrong testicle snipped off at VA hospital
After surviving the Air Force, 47 year-old Benjamin Houghton developed cancer in his left testicle. He went into the veterans hospital in Los Angeles to have the testicle removed because it was atrophied and painful.
Unfortunately, the VA hospital doctors didn’t have the sense to mark a big “X” on the left testicle. So instead of removing his cancerous, atrophied and painful left testicle, they cut off his perfectly healthy right testicle.
“At first I thought it was a joke,” Houghton said.
The chief of staff for the Greater Los Angeles VA system has apologized and said that the hospital changed practices as a result of the case.
Yeah, you read that right. They’ve changed practices at the hospital. That must mean that they will no longer cut off the wrong 1 of 2 testicles. And I guess that means that Ben could safely rely on them to remove his only remaining testicle without botching the job again. So far though, he’s hanging on to his last ball, painful or not.
