Man’s horror as he woke up after an operation and heard the doctor whisper “I’m terribly sorry, we made a mistake”.

A MAN says when he woke up after a hernia operation, a doctor whispered to him: “I’m terribly sorry, we made a mistake.”

Tom Hadrys, 63, was only semi-conscious after the operation, so attribute it to post-procedure blur.

But 105 minutes later, he walked back into the operating room with the panicked medical staff.

It turned out that the surgeon had accidentally left a bag of medical samples in his stomach, as well as part of Tom’s intestine that he had cut out.

Both were successfully extracted, but Tom is still plagued with related issues eight years later.

The incident, which happened at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton in 2016, was classed as a ‘never seen event’, meaning it should never have happened.

Tom received a £15,000 settlement and an apology.

Professor Katie Urch, Chief Medical Officer at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Our surgical staff are committed to providing the best and safest care to our patients, often in difficult situations.

“Surgeons do not work individually, they work as a team.

“These teams are highly skilled and perform complex surgical procedures that are never without risk.

“Their results are continually and closely monitored – both internally and externally – and whenever our care does not meet our high standards, we take immediate action to learn and improve.

Tom was in bed in a recovery room when the effects of his general anesthesia began to wear off.

In a slight drowsy blur, he remembers being approached by a doctor.

“I was conscious and I heard who must have been the surgeon whispering in my ear: ‘I’m terribly sorry but we’ve made a mistake,'” he told BBC Newsnight.

It was while the surgeon was returning home at the end of his shift that he suddenly realized that he had left a “Bert” bag (used to remove body parts) inside the Tom’s abdominal cavity – as well as a piece of his intestine.

The doctor immediately returned to the hospital and, after informing retired engineer Tom of his mistake, took him for another operation.

A serious incident investigation was carried out and new improved practices were introduced for all surgeons.

Tom’s doctor still works at the Trust.

I’m still in pain, there’s no doubt it affected me

Tom Hadrys

Tom says he lives with deep scars on his stomach and faces daily challenges related to this medical error.

“I’m still in pain, there’s no doubt it’s affected me,” he said.

“Since I have a weak abdomen now, I can’t really lift anything heavy.”

According to the BBC, further concerns were repeatedly raised about the surgeon in question over the following years.

The General Medical Council (GMC) and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) considered that no further action was necessary.

The hospital was rated as “requiring improvement” when it was last inspected in February 2024.