The visit to the health center became a nightmare.
When the doctor was going to clean Alf’s ear, it instead happened to pull out his eardrum – and made the 72-year-old completely deaf.
– Affe turned completely white and almost fainted, says his wife Ylva.
Alf Månsson, 72, was suffering from an ear infection and sought care at Osby health center, something that Northern Scania was the first to report on.
After a couple of days of ear drops, he had to come back to have his ear cleaned by a retired doctor.
Alf’s wife Ylva describes the cleaning as painful.
– Then the doctor says that there is some crap in the ear canal. He took a small pair of pliers and pulled out what turned out to be the eardrum, she says and continues:
– It hurt a lot and Affe lost his hearing right away and he was completely white in the face and was about to faint.
The regular doctor horrified
The weekend passed, the hearing did not return, and on Monday Alf had to see his regular ear doctor in Kristianstad.
– He was horrified by the damage and said that if it is ear infections, then no general practitioner should go in and do such treatments, but it should be sent to the ear clinic, says Ylva.
Alf was previously deaf in the other ear and today cannot hear at all. Ylva feels let down by the care and the lack of response after what happened.
– Anyone can make mistakes, but you have to take responsibility for it. I feel this has failed completely. It is so serious that you must at least apologize for it. I think it is common sense when you have destroyed a person’s hearing.
Everyday life awkward
Today, the 72-year-old has difficulty with social contacts and has problems with driving himself away and doing errands.
– I can’t talk to people. I can’t shop either. It has affected me a lot. My wife gets to do a lot for me. That is what is the worst, he says after reading TV4 Nyheterna’s written down questions.
The doctors will now investigate whether they can operate on implants that will help him hear again, but after two previous operations, and a reduced general condition, Ylva is unsure if it is something that the healthcare system wants to carry out.
– Then he will simply remain deaf in the future and then we have to try to adjust accordingly, she says.
The compensation “a mockery”
The health center itself reported the incident to Ivo. An internal investigation has also been carried out in which wrongful incidents have been identified and an action plan has been drawn up “so that similar incidents do not happen again”, writes Region Skåne on its website.
“We can only deeply regret what happened and now we await the investigation into what happened. Unfortunately, we cannot provide any further comments on the case due to patient confidentiality,” writes Marie Ljung, head of communications at primary care Skåne, in an email to TV4 Nyheterna.
Ylva and Alf have themselves reported what happened to the insurance company Löf.
– There we found out that a hearing is worth SEK 8,615. I think it’s a joke and it’s a mockery. He is completely deaf and this affects our whole life, says Ylva.