Britney Thomas fractured her thumb while playing cricket in Hong Kong and was referred to a local orthopedic surgeon in Victoria, Australia. Five days after surgeons operated to fix the thumb and set it in plaster, Britney said she was in agony. But when she went to her local GP, staff were shocked to find that the tourniquet used to cut off the blood supply to her thumb during surgery had been left on by accident.If a tourniquet is not removed it will continue to restrict the blood flow to the thumb, causing it to die.
After all their efforts failed, doctors were forced to go to their last resort – amputating Britney’s thumb and replacing it with her big toe. The chief executive of the hospital where the surgery took place (Latrobe Regional Hospital) was understandably extremely apologetic over the mistake.
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