Bungling cancer surgeons remove wrong kidney... leaving man, 77, with single, diseased organ

French surgeons wrongly removed a healthy kidney from a cancer patient, leaving the elderly man with just one of the blood cleaning organs—which is diseased.

Radio France reported that in July of this year, a 77-year-old man underwent an oncology procedure at Henri Mondor Hospital in Créteil, near Paris.

When he came round from the kidney removal—a medical procedure called a nephrectomy, which can take between one and four hours—he discovered that the doctors had operated on the incorrect side.

This happened, local media reports, despite him correctly filling in the 'checklist' done by medical staff before the surgery. It's estimated a total nephrectomy can potentially give cancer patients a five-year survival rate of over 90 per cent—but the unnamed man's prognosis is not as bright now because he will be relying on a single, diseased kidney.

While the patient's life is not in danger, he is faced with the consequences of the medical error, say the team at Radio France.

His family have initiated legal action against Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) who run the Parisian hospital.

When Radio France's journalists reached out to AP-HP they declined to comment on the grounds of medical confidentiality.

(It has been revealed a man had the wrong kidney removed during a surgery at a French hospital)

Earlier this year, the Daily Mail reported that an American woman is suing a Minnesota Hospital after surgeons mistakenly removed her healthy kidney.

When Wendy Rappaport, 84, went on the operating table she wasn't supposed to have a kidney taken out at all, but rather her spleen.

This left her requiring dialysis and she has since been diagnosed with the most severe form of kidney disease.Without both functioning kidneys, her body can no longer properly filter waste and excess fluid from her body.

The condition puts her at risk of life-threatening complications and organ failure, which could potentially kill her in a matter of years.

Spleen removal surgery is typically a routine procedure often done through small incisions—but given its close proximity to the kidneys, a precise hand is key.

But during the surgery, doctors instead removed Ms Rappaport's left kidney, leaving the infected body part behind.

In the UK, there are around 13,000 new kidney cancer cases every year and 4,709 deaths from the illness.

(Australian model Natasha Oakley and NBA legend Dwyane Wade have both previously spoken out about being diagnosed with kidney cancer)

According to the NHS symptoms include blood in your pee, pain between your ribs and waist that doesn't go away, and loss of appetite or losing weight without trying.

A lump or swelling in your back, under your ribs, or in your neck as well as fatigue, a temperature or sweating a lot are also signs of kidney cancer.

Ref: Bungling cancer surgeons remove wrong kidney... leaving man, 77, with single, diseased organ