An Argentinian man got the shock of his life after undergoing what he thought was surgery on his gallbladder, only to later learn that the doctors had performed a vasectomy instead.

Earlier this week, 41-year-old Jorge Baseto went to the Florencio Díaz Provincial Hospital in Cordoba, Argentina, for a gallbladder surgery. The operation was scheduled for Tuesday, February 28, but due to circumstances out of his control, Jorge’s procedure was postponed to Wednesday. That is apparently the small detail that caused a viral malpractice scandal that has engulfed the whole country. On the day of the surgery, hospital staff came into the patient’s room, laid him on a stretcher, and without asking him a single thing or even checking his chart, they took him to the operating room. The doctors didn’t bother checking his chart either, so they just performed the type of surgery they had scheduled for the day, vasectomy.

Photo: Jafar Ahmed/Unsplash

When Jorge woke up from his surgery, he had no idea what had happened, but then a doctor came in to check on him, and after looking at his chart, he gave him the shocking news – he had undergone a vasectomy instead of the scheduled gallbladder operation. The Argentinian man was speechless for a few moments, then he began to panic, but he didn’t have much time for that, as he was soon scheduled for the surgery he was supposed to get in the first place.

After his second surgery, Jorge Baseto wanted to know how the error had occurred and what could be done to reverse the vasectomy. The doctors kept blaming each other for the blunder, and they kept telling him not to be overly dramatic about the situation, as he could still conceive children through artificial insemination if he wanted to. As for the vasectomy, because of his age and the size of the severed ducts, the chances of success were very slim, so there was no point in even trying.

“It is very strange because in my chart it said ‘gallbladder’ everywhere, all they had to do was read it, you didn’t have to be a scientist to figure it out,” Jorge told Argentinian news outlet El Doce. “I don’t want to point the finger at anyone, but no one here is taking responsibility. They focus on saying: ‘Well, don’t be so dramatic, because through insemination you can still have a child.”

Jorge’s lawyer, Diego Larrey, said that his client is devastated. Although he is a father of two boys, he is apparently in a new relationship and he had plans to try for a child with his new partner in the future. They obviously would have liked to conceive naturally, but now they only have the option of artificial insemination.

“I am angry and helpless because what they did is irreversible, there is no changing it,” Jorge said. “I just can’t understand this level of negligence, how you can make such a huge blunder.”

The man’s lawyer told reporters that the error stemmed from his client’s rescheduled surgery. Vasectomies are usually performed on Wednesdays, and the staff at Florencio Díaz Provincial Hospital, including the doctors, just treated Jorge Basto as another vasectomy patient, instead of bothering to look at his chart.

 

The drama is currently ongoing, but it looks like Jorge is looking to sue the doctors and the hospital for negligence.