An elderly woman whose right eye was accidentally damaged during an extremely delicate operation was surprised the procedure was done by a senior trainee surgeon rather than his fully-qualified supervisor.
"I do not recall at any of the appointments prior to my surgery being told that I might well be operated on by a doctor still in training," the woman told Health and Disability Commissioner Anthony Hill's investigation into her complaint.
But the senior ophthalmology trainee, who had worked as an eye surgeon overseas for more than a decade, said he clearly recalled telling the woman he would be the operating surgeon, according to Mr Hill's report on the woman's care at an unnamed district health board, made public today.
The woman, aged in her early 70s at the time of the right-eye operation under local anaesthetic in 2013, had cataract surgery to replace the lens and an "epi-retinal membrane peel". The latter is an extremely delicate procedure to remove a membrane similar to scar tissue that has grown across the macula. The macula is the central section of the retina; the retina is at the back of the eye and converts light to nerve signals.
During the procedure, the trainee inadvertently touched a soft-tipped, diamond-studded instrument called a "tano scraper" onto the retina. The supervising specialist ophthalmologist said the action took less than a second and occurred too quickly for him to prevent it. He took over from the trainee and completed the surgery.
