Four unbelievable medical cases that were discovered by
accident.
Have you ever heard a story about a woman who goes to her
doctor for a routine checkup only to find out she is pregnant
and wonder how something like that could go unnoticed?
Thanks to advancements in modern medicine, accidental
medical discoveries are few and far between. However, it is
still possible for doctors and surgeons to stumble upon an
abnormality without meaning to. For example, the surgeons
who went to perform a Cesarean section and found no baby,
or a man who saw his doctor to be treated for stomach pain
and found out he was actually a woman. Here are four
unbelievable medical cases that were discovered by accident:
1. SURGEONS FIND 9-POUND BABY INSIDE WOMAN WHO
WAS HAVING HER OVARIES REMOVED
After severe bouts of stomach pain that had lasted a couple
of months, 25-year-old Rebecca Oldham underwent two
blood tests, three scans, and six pregnancy tests to no avail.
In hopes of alleviating her agonizing cramps, Oldham had
surgery scheduled to remove her ovaries, but during the
operation doctors discovered the actual root of her pain: a 9-
pound baby at 36 weeks. Doctors say the baby was not
detected during all the usual pregnancy tests due to its
positioning inside of her womb. Although surprised, Oldham
turned out to be excited over the discovery, since she had
long been under the impression that she was unable to
become pregnant.
2. MAN GOES TO HIS DOCTOR TO BE TREATED FOR STOMACH
PAIN AND FINDS OUT HE’S A WOMAN
Doctors at First People’s Hospital of Yongkang, China, were
positive a 44-year-old patient was a man due to his
appearance, and so did he. The married man from Zhejiang
went in to be treated for stomach pain and blood in his
urine, but ended up finding out he was on his period. As
doctors noted, the man had a deformed penis.
A CT scan also showed female reproductive organs, including
a uterus and ovaries. Further blood test results and a
chromosome examination revealed the man had two X
chromosomes, meaning he is genetically a woman. The
doctors diagnosed the man with congenital adrenal
hyperplasia, a genetic disease that causes swelling in the
adrenal glands as the result of a decrease in stress
hormones and an increase in male sex hormones, which
caused him to look like a man.
3. 40-YEAR-OLD FETUS DISCOVERED IN 82-YEAR-OLD WOMAN
Imagine the surprise of Colombian doctors who discovered a
40-year-old calcified fetus hiding in the abdomen of an 82-
year-old woman. There are only 300 recorded medical cases
of lithopedion, a Greek word meaning “stone baby.” Stone
babies usually occur as the result of an ectopic pregnancy
where the fetus develops in the mother’s abdomen instead
of the uterus. However, most ectopic pregnancies occur in
the fallopian tubes. After the baby dies in the abdomen, the
body works to protect itself from infection by calcifying the
dead fetus. While stone babies are extremely rare, they are
potentially life-threatening due to infernal hemorrhaging.
4. DOCTORS PERFORMING A C-SECTION FIND NO BABY
Doctors at Cape Fear Medical Center in North Carolina were
issued “letters of concern” after performing a C-section on a
woman who wasn’t pregnant. The hospital’s head resident
made the pregnancy diagnosis, and after two days of trying
to induce labor the medical team decided on a C-section.
When the doctors made the unnecessary incision only to find
an empty uterus, they reportedly “closed her back up.”
Although rare, pseudocyesis, also known as false or
hysterical pregnancy, does happen and is usually the result
of a soon-to-be-parent who is overzealous about becoming
pregnant. While it is a diagnosed psychiatric condition,
women with pseudocyesis often experience normal
pregnancy symptoms such as swollen breast, a halt in
menstruation, and stomach pain.