Medical error toll 'too high'

Chris Townrow can still feel pain in a leg she lost to botched surgery months ago.

The phantom pain is a constant reminder of her loss after routine knee replacement surgery at Greymouth Hospital ended with the Westport grandmother being rushed to Christchurch Hospital and most of her leg being amputated last November.

"To this day now, even though I haven't got the leg, I can still feel my toes. My toes are just as tight and sore as they were before I had the leg off," Mrs Townrow says.

Mrs Townrow told her story to the Herald this week as an article in the New Zealand Medical Journal said medical professionals were inadvertently hurting an unacceptable number of patients.

More than 1500 people were killed or permanently disabled annually through preventable medical error, Auckland University School of Population health lecturers Mary Seddon and Alan Merry said in the article published yesterday.

Mrs Townrow went under the knife of surgeon Robert Coup at Greymouth Hospital on November 7, and when she woke up it was clear something had gone badly wrong.

Mr Coup has since left for the United States.

A blood vessel in Mrs Townrow's knee was damaged during the surgery and her whole leg was affected. She was kept under observation for four days, her leg worsening, before being sent for more advanced care in Christchurch Hospital.

To the shock of her and her family, she was told in Christchurch her leg had to be amputated above the knee.

"I didn't believe it. I was lying on the bed and my daughter and we just stood there and cried for probably half or three quarters of an hour. It shouldn't have happened."

Now confined to a wheelchair, Mrs Townrow is dependent on others for her everyday needs.

"I can't do anything without having to ask for some kind of help."

The West Coast District Health Board has apologised to Mrs Townrow for what happened and for the long delays in addressing her complaints.

Associate Health Minister Damien O'Connor, who took an interest in the case, said it was an unfortunate mistake and "clearly, people have been struggling to try to work out how best to move forward".

The board had to learn from it and make improvements, Mr O'Connor said. Mrs Townrow said she wanted to know it would not happen to anyone else.

The Health and Disability Commissioner is looking into her case.