Now The Doctors Are Doing It!

A Brazilian man who went to the doctor suffering from ear trouble ended up undergoing more radical treatment than he expected - when he underwent a vasectomy.

Valdemar Lopes de Moraes, 39, was suffering from muffled hearing, and thought his name had been called out in the waiting room at a clinic in the town of Montes Claros in south-eastern Minas Gerais state, Reuters news agency reported.

He promptly went into a consulting room - where a doctor was performing vasectomies.

The staff had really called out Aldemar, not Valdemar - but they say they gave the full name, Aldemar Aparecido Rodrigues, of the man who was scheduled for the snip.

"The strangest thing is that he asked no questions when the doctor started preparations in the area which had so little to do with his ear," said clinic manager, Vanessa Guimaraes.

Mr de Moraes, a local farmer, later told staff he thought his ear inflammation had reached as far as his testicles.

The father of two, who had the vasectomy last week, turned up at the same clinic on Wednesday for the ear examination he failed to get the first time - but made no request for a reversal of the operation.

Ms Guimaraes said: "A local newspaper said he is going to sue us, but he did not tell us about any claims."

--- from the BBC News

He thought the inflammation had reached as far as his testicles?!?!?!?!?! Oh, dear lord....