A New Zealand woman who suffered from chronic pain for 18 months after undergoing a caesarean section at Auckland City Hospital has found that she has a surgical instrument the size of a dinner plate inside her stomach.
After preliminary investigations into the case, Te Watu Aura Auckland claimed that the Auckland District Health Board had nothing to do with the incident.
But Health Commissioner Morag McDowell said Te Watu Aura Auckland was in breach of the Patient Rights Act.
McDowell stated in his report:
When a foreign body is left inside a patient during an operation, healthcare is less than standard.
– The woman underwent a caesarean section due to concerns about placenta praevia.
– The surgical instrument, the size of a dinner plate, was left in the woman’s stomach, and this led to her suffering from chronic abdominal pain.
During the operation, a surgeon, a senior specialist, an instrumentation nurse, three roving nurses, two anesthesiologists, and a midwife were in the operating room.
– The case is “remarkably similar” to another case that occurred previously at the same location.
In a statement, Dr. Mike Shepherd, Group Operations Director for Te Watu Aura Auckland, apologized for the error.
He said: “For ethical and privacy reasons, we cannot comment on the details of individual patient care, however, we have reviewed patient care and this has resulted in improvements to our systems and processes which will reduce the chance of similar incidents occurring again.”
2023-09-04 12:05:00
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