It sound to me as though the guy thought that he was just getting a circumcision and as the operation proceeded, the cancer was discovered and removed before he woke up.
That's what I got out of it. Perhaps I'm the only one here who actually agrees with the plaintiff... I don't agree that he should have been awarded $16 million dollars but... The penile cancer was not immediately life threatening and the doctor had not recieved permission to operate on it. This poor man had no chance to make love to his wife one last time (or 20). His sex life is over... period. I think the doctor was out of bounds doing something so radical without permission.