The operation Luis Alberto Rosado needed was an outpatient procedure, a routine procedure to remove the saphenous vein that had been damaged by a blood clot in his left leg.
But a mistake broke the promise that he would return home that same day: the doctor tore his femoral artery, the main vessel that supplies blood to the lower body.
He bled to death and underwent four more surgeries to correct error after error by the unit of the Institute of Social Security and Services for State Workers (ISSSTE) in Mérida, Yucatán.
Convalescing, he discovered he was left without a specialist doctor because those in charge of his case went on vacation, on paternity leave, or disability leave. A month later, Luis Alberto was still hospitalized without the specialized care he required.
When the angiologist (a specialist focused on the blood and lymphatic vessels) returned and examined him, his foot was gangrenous. It was amputated. “I never imagined I’d be hospitalized for four months. The day before, I was training, I went for a run, and I ride a bike. Now I can’t do any of that,” says the 45-year-old biologist. His story began with a bruise on his ankle.
At first, he didn’t think anything of it, thinking it was an insect bite, but the bruise began to spread until it reached very close to his knee.
As a professor at the state university, he had access to private medical care, but the statutes stipulate that, as an hourly teacher, he was only entitled to a percentage equivalent to his working hours.
He didn’t have the money to go to a private hospital. In other words, his job only gave him 10% of the cost of consultations and medications.
“I paid the specialist, and he told me it was a thrombosis that required urgent surgery. The surgery cost 50,000 pesos, and I didn’t have the money, so I went to the ISSSTE, a service to which I am a beneficiary,” says the man who used to exercise, scuba dive, swim, and do other sports.
He was treated in the emergency room and was hospitalized for almost a month. On July 27, his birthday, he was discharged with the notification that he needed surgery.
He returned to the hospital on October 17, 2024. Luis Alberto, who did not suffer from any chronic degenerative disease or other risk factors that jeopardized his health, ended up having to undergo an amputation.
Last February (2025), he was discharged, but his wound has not healed due to decomposing tissue, and he still requires medical attention.
His cousin and a friend encouraged him to start a fundraiser through GoFundMe to pay for the treatments he needs and help him adapt to his new life. Luis Alberto needs nearly 500,000 pesos to face the challenges the healthcare system has left him with.
These funds include physical therapy sessions and a hyperbaric chamber, which administers pure oxygen at high pressure to the body to improve tissue oxygenation and accelerate healing.
“I was embarrassed to ask for money; that was one of the reasons I didn’t initially go to a private doctor. But I appreciate all the support because it’s helping me get on with my life, maybe not the same as before, but something very similar,” he says in an interview.
TYT Newsroom
The post Man’s Limb Amputated by Mistake in Mérida Hospital first appeared on The Yucatan Times.