Published 19 March, 2021
Basseterre
Buckie Got It, St. Kitts and Nevis News Source
An operation reportedly gone wrong has left a woman with the wrong leg amputated and has cast the Owen King EU Hospital (OKEUH) in a bad light.
On Monday of this week, a woman took to social media, claiming that surgeons amputated her grandmother good leg.
“How in the world can you make a mistake by operating on the wrong body part when you suppose to have all the patient’s info in front of you before commencing your job?” the woman wrote.
Loop News contacted director of the OKEUH Nancy Francis, who said: “I cannot comment on anything at this moment, as with any matter at the hospital we deal with patient…. and I am not aware of anything in the media as it relates to anything of that nature…”
She directed Loop News to the Ministry of Health, however, this proved to be unsuccessful.
Still, several medical practitioners did confirm the incident.
“With all what’s going on, that’s not a good look for the hospital at all,” one source declared.
“The reason why they not saying anything is maybe because the family is taking legal action,” a former nurse at the facility said.
Wrong-sided operations or surgeries is not new.
According to the Journal of Patient Medicine, this occurs in approximately 1 in 100,000 cases but could be as common as 4.5 in 10,000 cases dependent on the procedure being performed.
“That is why things are put in place locally and abroad such as checklists, handing overs, etc, so that these things are avoided,” a medical practitioner explained, noting that the recent incident has highlighted that proper procedures may not have been followed.
The incident has raised questions about what is being done to prevent a reoccurrence and exactly how did this happen.
