German clinic ‘mistakenly’ removes young man’s kidney

BREMEN – Anadolu Agency

A young Turkish-origin man in Germany has seen his dream of being an athlete shattered after doctors mistakenly removed his kidney.

Eighteen-year-old Kerim Ramazan Ucar went to a children’s clinic in Bremen on Oct. 4 for an operation on his spleen to treat a hereditary blood disorder.

But he and his family have been left furious after a pathology report later confirmed one of his kidneys had been removed instead.

“I had to have spleen surgery because my disease left me feeling sluggish. The doctors told me that I was going to have a simple operation [and that] even after two days I could be discharged,” Ucar told state-run Anadolu Agency.

“But after the surgery, I felt very sick. I’ve been suffering from pain and nausea for days,” he said.

Ucar said he learned the truth when he received a pathology report three days after the surgery.

“When I learned the truth, my world, my dreams were destroyed. They darkened my life. How is the kidney confused with the spleen? I need to go to a hospital again for spleen surgery,” he said.

His father, Selçuk Ucar, said the family will sue the hospital over their “irremediable mistake.”

“The doctors said the kidney may have been taken probably because it was displaced. Unbelievable! Ultrasonography should have been performed before the operation,” Durna Ucar, Kerim’s mother, said.