Venezuelan Man dies after doctors left scissors in his stomach

The Chavez family publicly condemned the death of Ivan Chavez, 59, who was admitted to the University Hospital of Maracaibo in Venezuela for an inflammatory diverticulitis. During the surgery on March 20, a doctor forgot a scissors inside his stomach, causing complications.

Apparently, the initial operation was a complete success, and "he did not even need intubation or intensive care unit, but was transferred to the room at once,” the patient’s daughter, Isamar Chávez, told the media outlet Noticia al día.

Chavez claims that the surgeons left the operating room to comment on how well the operation was going, beyond some hypotension problems that they were able to stabilize.

Days after the surgery, the man began to have bowel problems, discomfort in the abdomen, and choked when eating, the newspaper continues. He underwent tests, washings, and medications to facilitate bowel movement but they did not solve the discomfort.

On the morning of Thursday, March 24, he underwent X-ray examinations in the abdominal area to determine the causes of the discomfort. To everyone's surprise, the patient had scissors in his stomach. Another surgery was ordered to remove the foreign body.

"Without any protocol, without any preoperative examination, without preparing him, they submitted a very risky renal patient to another operation", Chavez told the newspaper. The doctors assured that the second operation had gone "well," but kept the patient intubated due to respiratory problems.

Early Friday morning, family members were sent to buy medication to keep him asleep, as "they didn't want to wake him up because he wouldn't be able to take the drastic change from the operation."

At 3:17 a.m. the doctors informed the family of the death of Ivan Chavez. The relatives denounce that the death certificate marked 1:00 a.m. as the time of death.

"Since 12 o'clock we tried to get information about the patient and it was not until 3:17 that we were told that he had died at that time, when in fact he had already been dead for almost two hours," adds Isamar Chávez.

Family members hold the surgeons responsible for malpractice. "People's lives are not a game," she concluded.