During an eye operation in one of the largest hospitals in Slovakia, a patient’s healthy eye was removed by mistake instead of the damaged one. As the TASR news agency reported on Wednesday, the man is now completely blind.
The doctor who led the operation is no longer in contact with patients, a spokeswoman for the University Hospital in Bratislava, which owns the hospital in the Bratislava-Ruzinov district, informed.
The hospital offered the victim of the unfortunate mistake and his family psychological care and support in dealing with the consequences. According to TASR, the Office for Health Supervision initiated investigations into how the unprecedented case in Slovakia could have happened.
The tragic mistake happened amid labor disputes in Slovakia’s healthcare sector. Just a week ago, the doctors’ union LOZ threatened mass layoffs. Around 3,000 doctors are willing to resign if the poor pay and increasingly unbearable working conditions do not improve.
