Doctors in a Croatian hospital removed a perfectly healthy kidney from a 56-year-old woman scheduled to have spinal surgery after a mix-up in the hospital, local dailies reported Wednesday.
 
"Unfortunately it is true. The hospital is talking to the patient and (her) family about compensation," Health Minister Darko Milinovic was quoted by the Jutarnji List daily as saying.
 
The mistake occurred when two women patients with the same family name and almost identical first names were admitted to a hospital in the southern Adriatic town of Dubrovnik, the paper said.
 
A probe to establish the cause of the mistake, that occurred last month, is underway.