Man left in agony for over nine years after doctors left scissors in his stomach

A patient in Bosnia and Herzegovina is demanding compensation from incompetent doctors after he was forced to live in agony for nine years after a pair of scissors was left in his stomach after surgery. Alen Papac, 38, from Mostar, said the original operation had happened in 2003 when he went into Mostar Hospital to undergo an operation to treat an ulcer in his stomach.

The surgery went well, apart from the fact that medical stuff accidentally left behind a 12 centimetre long pair of scissors in his stomach. He said: "I would suffer from agonising pains in my stomach for years after that and I have also had other health problems which I now realise were related to the fact that I had a pair of scissors in my stomach.



"Eventually the pain became so extreme that I decided to go back to hospital again – and when they carried out an x-ray the pair of scissors were discovered." He said that the medics had been shocked when they saw the x-ray image showing the pair of scissors, adding: "I told them that they might have been shocked, but they weren't as shocked as I was after seeing the reason for my 'health problems' over all these years."

He underwent emergency surgery to have the scissors removed and then contacted the hospital to demand compensation for the agony he had been forced to suffer, but said they had not even apologised. After they also refused to negotiate over compensation, he decided to sue them. The hospital declined to comment, saying only: "The court case is still going on and therefore we cannot comment on the case."