Hospital mix-up: Mother wins damages case for son as doctor operates on the wrong leg

A Limpopo mother has successfully sued the Limpopo MEC for Health for damages after a doctor at a hospital operated on her eight-year-old son but on the wrong knee.

The mother said she had initially been relieved when her eight-year-old son came out of surgery at Lebowakgomo Hospital as she believed that the problem related to his left knee would now be sorted out.

However to her dismay she discovered that the doctors had actually operated on his right knee - which had no problems. 

The mother, who is not identified to protect her minor son, told the High Court in Polokwane that she had instituted the damages claims as the doctor who performed the wrong operation on her son at the Lebowakgomo Hospital was negligent.

The boy, only identified as O, underwent a surgical procedure called femoral supracondylar osteotomy on his right knee instead of his left. A doctor at the hospital initially diagnosed O as having "anterior ligament instability".

An expert who testified during the trial told the court that the doctor should reasonably have been aware that knee ligament injuries are improbable in growing children. The expert concluded that in O's case, the probable diagnosis was a cruciate ligament.

Although O was never admitted to the hospital with a history of a problem with his right-side knee, and the available records demonstrate planned surgery to reconstruct a ligament in his left-side knee, inexplicably, a surgery was performed on his right knee.

During surgery, the surgeon decided to abandon the ligament repair as the ligaments were found to be intact on the right-sided knee. However he went ahead with another procedure which resulted in a massive flexion deformity of the femur. 

The medical expert told the court that not only did the surgeon operate on the incorrect leg, but the surgery itself was poorly done in terms of the result that he apparently attempted to achieve.

Due to poor aftercare and rehabilitation, O's right femur healed with gross malalignment and loss of mobility of the right knee. To make matters worse, he was still left with his problems relating to his left knee.

The mother, meanwhile, testified that when her son was a year-and-a-half, she noticed he could not walk. She took him to various hospitals, and it was decided that he needed to wear a brace on his left leg, but there was no improvement.

The orthopaedic surgeon who eventually performed the (wrong) operation was recommended to her by a neighbour. She subsequently signed the consent for the operation which pertained to left knee ligament reconstruction and arthroscopy surgery.

This surgery had to be postponed twice for various reasons, which included non-functioning theatre equipment. She was so relieved when he was eventually operated on, but she could not stop crying when she realised it was the wrong knee.

According to the mother, she never gave consent for the right knee to be operated on, as she was never told there were problems with both knees. But she said the doctor insisted to her it was the right knee.

In ruling against the health authority, Acting Judge LA Nkoana said without presenting any evidence on the facts to the court, it has no reason not to accept the evidence of the mother and her expert regarding the negligence of the doctor. The amount of damages payable will be decided at a later hearing.

THE MERCURY