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.
“When a foreign object is left inside a patient during an operation, health care falls short. The woman underwent a caesarean section due to concerns about placenta praevia,” McDowell said in a report.
He added, “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, there was a surgeon, a senior specialist, an instrumentation nurse, three roving nurses, two anesthesiologists, and a midwife in the operating room.” Remarkably similar to another case that occurred previously at the same location.
In a statement, Dr Mike Shepherd, director of operations for the T Watto Aura Auckland group, 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 19:54:45
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