First of all, we're not talking about the Asahi beer...or a Japanese version of General Hospital. The Asahi General Hospital is a hospital in Japan that I think really deserves the DDD Prize.

I read the story last night. I'm sure a lot of you did too. It's about this man who was diagnosed with a tumor. That's right, a tumor. I couldn't imagine getting the diagnosis myself. He checked into the hospital for surgery to remove the tumor and what the hospital found WASN'T a tumor but....A TOWEL THAT THE HOSPITAL HAD LEFT INSIDE THE MAN'S BODY LAST TIME HE HAD SURGERY FOR AN ULCER!

The article I read had a great line in it. "The towel was greenish blue although we are not sure about its original colour," the Asahi General Hospital spokesman said, adding it had been crumpled to the size of a softball. They should've added a "We're sorry" statement in there too, though I heard that they are planning to compensate the man for his trouble.

Compensation is a good thing but really, can you imagine going to a hospital to get better and leaving it with a towel in you? And I've read articles about this before, apparently it happens more than you think. Damn! And then we wonder why we don't like going to the doctor?

So here's a message to the Asahi General Hospital: Can you try not to do this again? I don't know...maybe you can start keeping count of the towels at the beginning of the surgery. That way, if at the end, you have a different number, you know NOT to stitch up quite yet.

Congrats, you guys are the winners of the DDD Award for the week!