Medical horror stories come in many forms, but few are as disturbing as those involving botched surgeries and other mishaps during medical procedures. As a patient, you entrust doctors and other healthcare professionals with your body and your well-being; to have your health taken away by a careless mistake is nothing short of devastating (and frightening). While the industry tries its best to make it seem as though such incidents never happen, the truth is that botched procedures are far more common than they’d like to admit.

One mom-of-six sadly had to pay the price when a surgery went awry — leaving her with unimaginable pain. And to relieve that pain, doctors prescribed her one of the strongest opioids on the market — fentanyl. While the pills took away her pain, they also all but took away her ability to remember some of her fondest moments with her family.

Mom battles torn pelvic nerve

Thirty-six-year-old Amy Whitaker went in for a “normal” surgical procedure to have a pelvic hernia removed back in 2016 — but when she woke up from surgery, it became evident that all was not well. At the age of 35, Whitaker says the word “pain” gained new meaning — and this is coming from a woman who gave birth to six children naturally.

To say she’s already experienced her fair share of pain would certainly be an understatement.

“The minute I opened my eyes, I felt intense pain; it was instantaneous,” she commented.

As the Daily Mail explains, Whitaker’s surgeon opted to use surgical mesh to “stem” the incision, rather than use stitches to sew up the wound. Ultimately, this would be her undoing; the mesh was placed too low and split open one of her pelvic nerves. The pudendal nerve connects to the anus, vulva, clitoris and pelvis. When the mesh tore into this nerve, it left Whitaker in excruciating pain and unable to perform regular tasks like cooking or parenting her kids.

“I was in so much pain at that point, I didn’t care if I lived or died…I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for my husband,” she recalled.

After months of suffering, doctors realized what had happened and diagnosed her with a rare condition called pudendal neuralgia. To combat this devastating condition, doctors removed the mesh and loaded Whitaker up with a heavy duty prescription opioid known as fentanyl, leaving her to live life in a haze. As the mom explains, removing the mesh wasn’t a quick fix; she struggled with pain for months afterward and relied on a combination of opioids and injections to keep the pain at bay. Whitaker says that she began to lose memories of her newborn daughter and struggled to wean herself off of the drugs (which are known for being highly addictive and are the source of a public health crisis nationwide).

Though it has taken quite a long time, Whittaker is slowly regaining her strength and her life.

Medical industry claims many victims

Whitaker’s heartbreaking story is not the first, nor will it be the last. Many people have been burned by the profit-driven medical industry over the years. As Natural News reported in 2016, mistakes are the third leading cause of death; an estimated 1.6 million Americans die from hospital errors over the course of just 15 years.

More, reports suggest that many times, doctors are not even willing to be forthcoming about their errors. Rather than fess up, they prefer to try to hide their mistakes. A shocking 13 percent of doctors said that they don’t even feel remorse for the mistakes they make during surgery. And unwitting patients are entrusting their lives to these people?

In 2017, another shocking report revealed that surgeons were upping the ante by operating on multiple patients at the same time to make more money. As if surgery wasn’t risky enough, now they’re multitasking. [Related: Read more stories about medical lunacy at Medicine.news.]

Sources for this article include:

DailyMail.co.uk

NaturalNews.com