Report: Ben Carson Once Left a Sponge in a Patient's Brain
Ben Carson, a celebrated neurosurgeon credited as the first surgeon to successfully separate twins conjoined at the head, has had his share of allegedly severe missteps, according to a new report from the National Enquirer. The investigation allegedly uncovered six malpractice lawsuits against the candidate, one of which accused him of leaving a sponge in a patient’s brain.
One former patient described to the Enquirer how Carson allegedly spoke to her and her family for “maybe 14 minutes” before performing the surgery.
From the National Enquirer’s report:
My parents told him they weren’t authorizing him to remove the whole tumor because of the risk,” said Karly, now 27.
“But he did what he goddamned pleased! He tried to remove all of the tumor, and injured my nerves and brain stem.
“I was paralyzed on my right side. I’ve never fully recovered. I have chronic fatigue, and my eyes dance around. It’s like having permanent vertigo. My face droops and people are really cruel.”
In addition to an allegedly unnecessary tumor removal according to the Enquirer (the tumor turned out to be benign) resulting in “irreversible injuries,” another former patient returned to complain of pain from a previous surgery performed by Carson. Carson reportedly told the 69-year-old patient “that she might have a tumor. But surgery revealed the lump was actually ‘a sponge he had left in (her) brain.’”
Ben Carson, who is currently leading in the polls behind Trump and is leaning heavily on his position as a non-politician, most recently put out a call to arm Kindergarten teachers right before assuring voters that while he would oblige not meeting victims’ families of the recent Oregon shooting, he’d be happy to “go to the next one.”
We’ve reached out to Ben Carson’s camp for comment, and will update if and when we hear back.
Update 10/8, 12:50 p.m.:
Buzzfeed reports that Carson has responded to the allegations, saying:
My reaction is that I did 15,000 operations. And the people who oppose me have been crawling through every ditch, every place I’ve ever been my whole life looking for stuff. They found five or six disgruntled people, that’s a very small number, and many of those cases never went anywhere, because the legal system said, ‘Are you kidding me?’ and threw it out. But the point is you don’t discuss that kind of stuff in public, number one.
