NHS bosses have been forced to pay out more than £3 million after surgeons were found to have removed the wrong testicle from 159 men.
Over the space of seven years, some patients had the wrong one cut out instead of the correct cancerous one. In one particular incident a man received the wrong treatment for torsion - a twisting of the tubes which cuts off blood - causing his gonad to become gangrenous and leaving no other option than for it to be cut off.
As a result of the numerous botched ops, the health service is now having to fork out £3.2m ($4.17m) in compensation, according to litigation authority NHS Resolution.
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According to negligence lawyers cited by the Sun, the NHS usually pays around £20,000 ($26,000) after admitting fault for leaving men with only one testicle, however those patients who have had both testicles can expect to receive up to £70,000 ($91,000), due to being left infertile.
In the majority of cases, the errors were the result of delays in correctly diagnosing an illness, leaving doctors with no choice but to cut off testicles which could have been saved.
However, there were a few men who had the wrong testicle removed due to a surgical error, and after realising their blunder, doctors then had to remove the correct one.
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Speaking to the Star, a 48-year-old man said he was bringing legal action against a hospital after doctors removed the wrong testicle during an operation in 2013 - only realising the mistake 40 minutes after the op.
A spokesperson for regulator NHS Improvement said incidents such as these are rare but they will work to make sure they don't happen in the future.
They told the Sun: "While cases like this are very rare, it is vital that hospitals learn from these mistakes and take the appropriate action to support the patient.
"The NHS is one of the safest healthcare systems in the world, and we will build on this further as part of our patient safety strategy."
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Also speaking to the Sun, Nicola Wainwright of law firm Leigh Day said this will no doubt have caused a great deal of embarrassment to the men who were subjected to the bungled operations.
She said: "It is devastating, particularly if they are young and not yet in a long-term relationship.
"They are embarrassed having to explain their injury to future partners."
She added: "It's also a tragedy if they are hoping to have a family and are worried about their fertility."
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