Let these stories of botched surgeries serve as cautionary tales for both medical staff -- who should double- and triple-check all instruments and details on the patients and procedures -- and for patients, who should do all they can to fully understand their treatment and to feel comfortable that the surgeons know what they're doing.

Whatever the cause -- obsession with celebrity beauty, economic difficulties, mental illness -- some people have found the need to bypass medical professionals and perform complicated surgical procedures on themselves, almost always with bad consequences. Consider these your cautionary tales...

You might think your HMO plan is scary, but at least it doesn't use these vintage surgical instruments...hopefully.