This is known medically as a "whooops".

Vanderbilt Medical Center reaches settlement over amputation
Associated Press
Tuesday, May 15, 2001 

NASHVILLE, TENN. -- A Tennessee man has reached an out-of-court settlement over a medical mistake that cost him his penis.

Arthur Tucker was burned during a one-hour treatment for a swollen prostate with a microwave device called the Prostatron.

Doctors at Vanderbilt University Medical Center had to amputate his penis. Tucker and his wife sued Vanderbilt and the company that makes the device for $13 million.

The settlement was reached just as the case was to go to trial. Terms aren't being disclosed, but the Tuckers' lawyer says they're satisfied.

Vanderbilt says it's going to continue using the Prostatron. It was approved by the FDA five years ago and the manufacturer says it's been used successfully on about 80,000
men. 

© Copyright 2001 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.

-- Anonymous, May 15, 2001

Answers

Vanderbilt Medical Center reaches settlement over amputation Associated Press Tuesday, May 15, 2001

NASHVILLE, TENN. -- A Tennessee man has reached an out-of-court settlement over a medical mistake that cost him his penis.

Arthur Tucker was burned during a one-hour treatment for a swollen prostate with a microwave device called the Prostatron.

Doctors at Vanderbilt University Medical Center had to amputate his penis. Tucker and his wife sued Vanderbilt and the company that makes the device for $13 million.

The settlement was reached just as the case was to go to trial. Terms aren't being disclosed, but the Tuckers' lawyer says they're satisfied.

Vanderbilt says it's going to continue using the Prostatron. It was approved by the FDA five years ago and the manufacturer says it's been used successfully on about 80,000 men.

© Copyright 2001 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.

-- Anonymous, May 15, 2001