Re: Wot?
"I can't remember the term for leaving bits of equipment inside a patient but I'd imagine that bits of surgeon are unlikely to be included"
I'm not sure that they ended up inside the patient, but body parts of members of the surgical team have been known to fall off during surgery. Consider the case of Robert Liston, a Georgian/Victorian surgeon reputed to be 'the fastest knife in the West End'. In his most famous case:
"Amputated the leg in under 2 1⁄2 minutes (the patient died afterwards in the ward from hospital gangrene; they usually did in those pre-Listerian days). He amputated in addition the fingers of his young assistant (who died afterwards in the ward from hospital gangrene). He also slashed through the coat tails of a distinguished surgical spectator, who was so terrified that the knife had pierced his vitals he dropped dead from fright.
That was the only operation in history with a 300 percent mortality."
Edit: I just noticed Allan George Dyer got there first with the story of Robert Liston, but I'll leave this one here to keep the context of bits of surgeons dropping off. Send any upvotes to Allan for being first!