Surgeon Accidentally Leaves Piano Inside Patient

Toronto, Canada

An unidentified patient was brought into surgery on Tuesday at the Toronto Shriners Hospital to remove a large growth under his skin. It was tested for cancer and it turned out to be benign. Once the surgery began it was in fact a piano left behind by a surgeon during a gall bladder surgery the patient underwent in 2000.

The patient had complained of lower chest pains and had trouble walking. "It was like I was pushing, well, a piano around in front of me," he said in recovery late Tuesday night.

The surgeon that performed the 2000 surgery was unavailable for comment. The PR office at the Toronto Shriners Hospital did make a brief statement.

"These things happen. One minute you're singing 'Beauty School Drop-Out' and the next thing you know you've sewn a piano into a patient.

"We were really shocked," Dr. Feelgood said. "I said, `You have to come down here and see what we found.' "

The patient, a 59-year-old man, had consulted Dr. Feelgood because of nausea and pain in his abdomen.

"I had no idea I was going to find this," Dr. Feelgood said.

The TSH public relations office was quick to point out that "Surgical teams accidentally leave clamps, sponges and other tools inside about 1,500 patients nationwide each year, according to the biggest study of the problem yet. As far as we know this is the only time a piano has been accidentally left behind."