A man was left with no testicles after surgeons cut off the wrong one in a botched operation, health chiefs confirmed today.
Essex Strategic Health Authority (SHA) admitted the appalling error had been recorded in confidential files of medical blunders.
It declined to give any further details about the patient involved or where in the county he lived, to protect his confidentiality.
The SHA was forced to acknowledge the mistake, made by medics working for one of the five acute health Trusts in Essex, after a national newspaper put in a request under the Freedom of Information Act.
A spokesman today admitted doctors had removed a healthy testicle from the man. When the error was realised, they had no option but to put him back on the operating table to remove the other one, which was diseased.
The spokesman said a thorough investigation had been carried out in a bid to prevent a repeat of the "Serious Untoward Incident".
More in today's Evening Gazette
Published Tuesday, February 7, 2006
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