Texas Man Wakes Up After Operation, Penis Missing
Thu August 28, 2003 03:27 PM ET
DALLAS (Reuters) - An out-of-court settlement has been reached in the case of a North Texas man who woke up from bladder surgery only to find that doctors had amputated his penis without permission, lawyers said on Thursday.
Terms of the out-of-court settlement were not disclosed but Hurshell Ralls, 67, had been seeking over $5 million in a civil suit he filed in Wichita Falls, Texas, against the two doctors who removed his penis. They did not admit to any wrongdoing in the settlement.
The hospital where the surgery was performed was also named in the suit.
Ralls' attorney Steve Briley said that his client was having surgery in 1999 to remove a cancerous bladder, which would likely include the removal of his prostate gland.
He contends that doctors removed Ralls' penis after they mistakenly thought the cancer had spread to the male sex organ. He charged the doctors - - John S. Dryden and Farid Khoury -- with not seeking consent for the penis amputation and negligence.
He also said a pathology test indicated that Ralls' penile tissue was not cancerous.
Joel Steed, the attorney who represented the doctors, said Dryden had informed Ralls that his penis might have to be removed to treat the cancer he had in his bladder. He also questioned the results of the pathology tests on the amputated penis.
Steed said during surgery the two doctors saw tissue indicating the cancer spread from the bladder to the urethra, and they felt removing the penis would provide the best chance for Ralls' survival.
Hearings in the case before a jury of eight men and four women had started earlier this week and were underway when the out-of-court settlement was reached.
Ralls and his wife have not been able to recover from the anger and shock they felt after the surgery, his attorney said.
"Mr. Ralls was not informed that he was going to wake up and not have a penis," Briley said.
Doctors Remove Baby's Parasitic Third Leg
Thu August 28, 2003 08:18 AM ET
BEIJING (Reuters) - Surgeons in Beijing said on Thursday they had successfully operated on a baby born with a leg of her undeveloped twin protruding from her back after the third limb deprived her of nutrients she needed to live.
For weeks Chinese newspapers have tracked the ordeal of 14-month-old Qing Qing, discovered abandoned on the streets of the capital in March and later adopted by a woman farmer.
Three anesthetists, four surgeons and four nurses toiled for six hours at Dongzhimen Hospital to remove the curved, tail-like parasite, said one of the surgeons, Yu Xing.
"The operation was very smooth and satisfactory," he told Reuters. "She was in dangerous condition, and even faced death, had we not operated in time.
"After the operation, she can now lie down. We hope she can sit in the near future. If her nervous system recovers well, and some other small operations succeed, she can even walk some day."
Yu said the hospital had performed the surgery free of charge.
Need Inspiration? Dial Kama Sutra
Thu August 28, 2003 08:11 AM ET
SAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) - A Brazilian telephone company is offering a helping hand to Latin lovers who are lacking inspiration with animations of sexual positions based on the Kama Sutra flashed directly to their mobile phones.
For 33 cents, customers of Tele Norte Leste Participacoes' wireless arm Oi can download one of 40 animations which come with a short explanation and gauge of difficulty.
An Oi spokeswoman said the idea came from Europe where the service has proved popular. In Brazil, the animations are only available on the Nokia 7650 and Sony-Ericsson T68i models, but Oi hopes to extend it to other handsets in future, she said.
Oi, which claims to be the first Brazilian telephone company to offer the service, said it could double the number of animated positions available if demand warranted. Each animation comes with a warning that the content is for people over the age of 18.
The Rio de Janeiro-based company is one of Brazil's fastest growing cellular phone operators. In the first year after its launch in June 2001, Oi notched up 2.2 million customers.
Links are provided for authenticity
"If it's true that our species is alone in the universe, then I'd have to say that the universe aimed rather low and settled for very little." -George Carlin (1937-2008)
"Have some of you Americans actually seen Football? Of course there are 0-0 draws but that doesn't make them any less exciting." -Dr Roberts, with quite possibly the dumbest thing ever said in 10 years of SDNet.
Penis Amputated, no Consent, as I reread these I find myself inverting.
"If it's true that our species is alone in the universe, then I'd have to say that the universe aimed rather low and settled for very little." -George Carlin (1937-2008)
"Have some of you Americans actually seen Football? Of course there are 0-0 draws but that doesn't make them any less exciting." -Dr Roberts, with quite possibly the dumbest thing ever said in 10 years of SDNet.
