Ex-soldier’s penis amputated after botched kidney operation

A Romanian man who went to the hospital to have a kidney operation left without his penis after it became infected, Central European News (CEN) reported.

Costica Maroleanu, 55, suffered from kidney failure and went to the county hospital in the town of Buzau, in eastern Romania, for the procedure. When the surgery was over, the hospital informed him that, because the nurse had not properly fitted the catheter, his penis became red and infected.

He was moved to intensive care and later to nephrology, but was left unattended for 10 days when the doctor went on vacation, Maroleanu told CEN.

Maroleanu was then transferred to the Bucharest Military Hospital, where doctors determined his infected penis must be removed, or he would risk death.

“The foreskin was stripped away completely, and most of the cells in the organ were dead,” a hospital spokesman told CEN. “The member was black, and the only remaining skin was at the base of the shaft and highly infectious.”

Maroleanu told CEN he is “devastated” because he has to urinate like a woman and is now demanding  $539,000 compensation from the county hospital for malpractice.

“If they hadn’t botched things up at the beginning, this wouldn’t have happened,” he told CEN.

The head of Romania’s Sexual Medicine Association questioned the likelihood of his winning the lawsuit.

“I’m not sure he will win by saying he is devastated and has to go to the toilet like a woman,” professor Nicolae Calomfirescu told CEN. “If you cut the left hand of a violinist, he will be devastated. But should he be devastated by the loss of his penis? I would say the man needs to be evaluated by a psychologist.”