Fatal mix-up

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The incident took place at the Bulovka Hospital in Prague.(Bild: Bulovka Krankenhaus)

An unbelievable incident in a hospital in the Czech capital Prague: as a result of a mix-up, an unwanted abortion was performed on a pregnant woman. 

As Czech media reported on Thursday, the woman only wanted to go to the clinic's gynecology department for a routine check-up as part of her pregnancy. However, she was mistaken for a patient who had come for a so-called curettage (uterine scraping).

"Unforgivable human error"
After the TV station CNN Prima News initially reported on the error, the Czech Ministry of Health confirmed it to the news agency CTK. The ministry had been informed by the hospital management and expressed its "deepest regret" to the patient and her family. "There has been an unforgivable human error, the guilty parties have been removed from duty for the time being," said a ministry spokesperson.

Hospital wants to pay compensation
The hospital itself announced to the news portal "Novinky.cz" that it was prepared to pay compensation. According to media reports, the mistaken women are two foreign nationals who both live permanently in the Czech Republic. Officials did not provide any information on the identity of the women.