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OK! Just talked with doc Failsafe, who browsed the image from his work PC to tell us:
- Yes, that is the guy's unit, and it's common to see in abdominal x-rays. The image is of a smaller area than we think. It's pretty much just the abdominal area, not up to the guy's neck.
- The male member is definitely soft tissue ("speak for yourself," I said) and not as dense as bone. But soft tissue will show in x-rays, and in this shot failasfe identified such other soft tissue as the heart (to the right of the spine, the hazy area below the word "University"), the liver, the colon, the stomach air pocket, and even a kidney.
- Retractors like this can be more flexible than we might think. The worst case is if it eroded a major organ...
- He was very surprised to see it and especially to see the image released, since it has all the other info at the top. Most medical centers routinely x-ray patients before closing, to make sure there aren't any parts left. The most common part to leave in is a sponge. They now put a barium loop on all sponges, that can be easily seen in an x-ray. He suspects that what might have happened is the radiologist noted the problem but someone didn't take it seriously.
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12-10-2001, 03:22 PM
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