If you bought a Hatch & Grow Easter egg or Dino toy from Target for your child’s basket this weekend, you might want to make alternative plans: Target has recalled 560,000 of the toys as they pose an ingestion hazard that can only be remedied with surgery. [More]
surgery
Target Recalls 560,000 “Hatch & Grow” Easter Toys Over Ingestion Hazard
By 4.13.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
Why Do So Many Men Get Vasectomies During March Madness?
By 3.16.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
Maybe you’re watching the NCAA men’s basketball tournament on a small window on your work computer, or on your strategically placed smartphone at your desk. There’s also a higher than usual chance that you’re enjoying March Madness while recovering from your very recent vasectomy. [More]
Why Would A Hospital Charge You For Holding Your Newborn Baby?
By 10.5.16
Though there are many kinds of surprises you might find on your bill after a trip to the hospital, some seem too strange to be true. For example, a new father in Utah who was amused to find a charge for the moment his wife held their newborn baby against her chest. What in the world? [More]
Two Men, Two Colostomy Bags, Two Shoplifting Accusations, Three Steaks, One Arrest, One Apology
By 8.13.15
Two men on different continents who have similar medical problems and have undergone the same surgery, and recent trips to these ended poorly for both of them. They both have colostomies, and store employees mistook both of their bags for stolen merchandise and became suspicious. The difference: one of them men was allegedly trying to leave the store with $75 worth of steak stuffed in his colostomy bag, and the other was innocent. [More]
Customer Leaves $1,000 Tip To Help Bartender Pay For Her Dog’s Emergency Surgery
By 4.25.14
Kindred spirits are a wily sort of spirit — you never know when you’re going to run into someone who has a lot in common with your life. And while it’s reward enough to share interests with a stranger, when that sharing leads to a whopper of a tip, well then, that’s extra nice. [More]
Man Poses As Liposuction Surgeon, Flushes Fat Down Toilet After Surgery
By 12.26.11
When you’re undergoing an operation, it’s preferable to have a surgeon with a medical license. But an unsuspecting San Francisco woman wasn’t so lucky, going under the knife of an impostor who allegedly pretended to be a physician assistant, performed liposuction and ended up flushing the fat down her toilet. [More]
Woman Loses Legs After Weight-Loss Surgery
By 9.14.11
A woman lost more than her love handles after a weight-loss surgery went awry. She lost both her legs. [More]
Dental Surgery Leaves Woman With A European Accent
By 6.8.11
It’s not unusual to find it tough to talk normally after oral surgery, but an Oregon tax consultant who had several teeth removed and replaced with dentures was stuck with a strange twist — an accent that folks describe as British, Swedish or Eastern European. [More]
Caesarian Births More Popular Than Ever
By 12.21.10
Caesarian section births are becoming more and more of the thing to do in United States, with a larger contingency of pregnant mothers opting for the procedure over vaginal births every year. [More]
How To Make Sure Your Next Plastic Surgery Is Safe
By 12.10.09
If you’re dumb, you forget that plastic surgery is surgery with an extra word in front of it, a doctor tells CNN in their article on getting nip/tucked safely. As with any surgery, there’s no real way to make it completely safe, but here are five tips from their article that you should follow to improve your odds. In fact, they’re probably good tips for any kind of surgical procedure. [More]
Get On A Plane, Go To Your Surgery
By 9.11.09
We’re not sure if this is the start of a trend or just some very creative cost-cutting by a few companies, but Business Insurance notes that some self-insured firms are now sending their employees to other states to save money on medical procedures.
You Can't Bend Your Knee? Here, We're Bumping You To Coach
By 6.18.09
What does it take for an airline to retain customers these days? Here’s a tip: given the graying of America, try not treating elderly people with medical emergencies like crap. Livejournal user urzepatriz details how American Airlines added insult to his or her grandfather’s injury. Literally. By bumping him to coach on a cross-country flight after an injury sustained during the trip required major surgery and left him unable to bend his knee.
Enterprise Tells Post-Op Patient To Drive 400 Miles On A Faulty Tire
By 8.23.08
Enterprise wouldn’t replace Melissa’s rental car even after a mechanic declared the tire on her current car “unrepairable,” and warned that it would be unsafe to drive 400+ miles back to New York from Rochester on a donut spare. Enterprise told Melissa to spend the day repairing the car at a garage at her own expense. Melissa, who was recovering from surgery, asked to swap her broken car for one that worked, a request Enterprise repeatedly denied.
Botched LASIK Eye Surgery Leads To Corneal Transplant
By 5.5.08
The vast majority of the time, LASIK eye surgery works out just fine. Then there are stories like Patrick’s. He was a “perfect” candidate for LASIK eye surgery according to both the doctor who performed the procedure and other experts who reviewed his records later.
UnitedHealth Unapproves Surgery From 2 Years Ago, Wants $7700 Back
By 4.23.08
United Health Care, not content with merely denying life saving cancer procedures or refusing to pay for basic (covered!) checkups, took things to a new level by retroactively un-approving procedures they paid for in 2005. They sent reader Suzanne a letter and a bill for $7700, claiming the pay-out was an “administrative error”, and she needed to pay up. Check out the details, inside.
California Hospital Takes Botched Operations Seriously
By 3.15.08
THE QUOTE: “Members of the clinical team involved in these cases have been deeply affected, and as a hospital we take this very seriously and regret that it happened,” [Dr. Raymond Casciari, St. Joseph’s chief medical officer] said.
Plastic Surgery Company Sues Consumer Site For Negative Customer Reviews
By 3.4.08
Lifestyle Lift claims it’s a “minor one-hour procedure with major results,” but a lot of customers who have paid for the procedure have been left unhappy, and they’ve consequently posted reviews about it on a plastic surgery review blog called RealSelf. Lifestyle Lift has sued RealSelf, claiming trademark infringement, and now RealSelf has countersued, claiming Lifestyle Lift padded RealSelf’s site with shill reviews.
Bra Seller Tells Customer To Get A Breast Reduction
By 2.20.08
If there’s one thing this writer has learned over the years, it’s to never tell a woman to get breast reduction surgery. It’s rude, insulting, and can quite possibly get you kneed in the groin, slapped, pushed into a train, cut out of the will, and so on. But apparently the salesperson at Penningtons—sort of a Canadian Lane Bryant—didn’t get that memo. “North of 49” writes:
I’m a woman of “ample girth” but still have a figure. At 226lbs, I have a 38J cup. We’re getting married on leap day and I have had issues with bra shopping before. So I went to “Penningtons,” an above average store that should have had bras in my size. They didn’t.
