Back surgery leaves woman paralysed

By ELIZABETH BINNING



When Margaret Rowe walked into Auckland Hospital with a sore back she never dreamed she would leave paralysed, after surgery to remove a supposed tumour went wrong.

The tumour was in fact a slipped disc and the operation had to be aborted halfway through when her blood pressure dropped to dangerous levels.

By the time the surgery was resumed the next morning, Mrs Rowe, 53, was paralysed from the chest down.

Today, a year after the operation, she will meet ACC officials to discuss compensation for medical misadventure.

After seeking independent advice, ACC has ruled that Mrs Rowe's paraplegia was a result of the surgery on April 3 last year.

The case was accepted under the criteria for medical mishap - where there is an adverse consequence of treatment correctly given. It means the surgeon was not to blame.

Despite this finding, Mrs Rowe has laid a complaint with the Health and Disability Commissioner, claiming she was not warned of the risks of such major surgery.

"If [the doctor] had said to me that it was a risky operation, I would have said to him forget it, but he didn't give me a choice.

"He didn't say to me that I might never walk."

The hospital's chief medical officer, Dr David Sage, said Mrs Rowe, who lives in Thames, was transferred to Auckland after a CT scan at Waikato Hospital showed tissue pressing on her spinal cord.

The tissue was presumed to be a tumour - which looks similar to a slipped disc on an x-ray - and urgent surgery was needed.

Mr Sage said all surgery carried some degree of risk and Mrs Rowe signed a consent form beforehand.

Since leaving the hospital, Mrs Rowe has struggled to understand what went wrong. She can no longer care for her husband, who went blind after suffering a stroke in 2002, and they now live in a rest-home.

Mrs Rowe has fought depression and considered taking her life.

What makes her angry is the fact the neurosurgeon never explained what happened.

"I hate him because he couldn't come and say sorry for what he had done. We actually requested twice for him to come to us but he never did."

Mrs Rowe has been cheered by news that she will become a grandmother for the first time, but her disability will affect even that one joy.

"'I walked into that hospital and now I won't even be able to push that grandchild down the street."

She is concerned about what she describes as a growing number of medical misadventure cases that are "swept under the carpet".

After the operation she was transferred to the Otara Spinal Unit, where she said she met another woman who had also been paralysed during surgery. She also heard of six similar cases in the same month.

ACC figures show 2727 claims for medical misadventure in the year to last June, up 305 from the previous year. Just under 600 of those claims were accepted.

Since 1992, ACC has paid out for 86 medical misadventure claims related to neurosurgery.

Mrs Rowe hopes to be able to return home with her husband by the end of this year. She has had to wait for the ACC payout to adapt her home for wheelchair use.

Her payout should be worked out today, but Mrs Rowe said it would come as little compensation.

"All the money in the world will never help me walk again."