Error Of The Week (13)

There is an implicit assumption, when you place yourself in the hands of a surgeon, that they know what they are doing. There will be occasions when circumstances will present an unexpected and unanticipated outcome, but you would hope that the clinicians would know their left from their right.

An elderly patient went to a clinic in Freistadt in Austria in May this year to have his left leg amputated. A court in Linz heard last week that the surgeon marked up the wrong leg, which she successfully removed. The error was only discovered during a routine change of dressings. Following an investigation into the incident, a spokesperson for the hospital said it was a “result of a sequence of unfortunate circumstances” and the surgeon could not explain why she had made the mix-up.

The poor patient may have taken a different view of the tragedy, especially as he was told that the right leg ie his left – confusing isn’t it? – would have to come off as well.

The surgeon has been transferred to another clinic and was found guilty of gross negligence by the Linz court and fined €2,700, half of which – was it the right or left? – has been suspended. The widow of the man, who had subsequently died before the case had come to court, was awarded compensation of €5,000.

That seems a bit paltry, but perhaps the court thought he did not have a leg to stand on.