Boy who suffered treatment injury at Waikato Hospital can't run or play with friends

Alyse Whyte and son Kyle Higgan, 10. Kyle suffered nerve damage following surgery to correct a foot deformity and now can't walk without crutches or play with his friends. Photo / Alan Gibson

Kyle Higgan can no longer run or play with his friends like other 10-year-old boys.

In fact, he can only walk aided by crutches and is often confined to a wheelchair.

"I'm devastated," mum Alyse Whyte said. "He doesn't want to go to school anymore because he sits there and watches other kids play because he can't do what they do."

Kyle suffered sciatic nerve damage and a drop-foot following surgery at Waikato Hospital in October 2018 to correct a childhood foot deformity.

"His feet were turning in. It came on when he was about 5 years old. They were getting sore, to the stage where he couldn't wear shoes," Whyte said.

The surgery straightened Kyle's feet but when an epidural was removed from his back the young boy was overcome with severe pain in his right leg.

"You couldn't touch it. He couldn't even have a sheet on it. He started screaming in pain. I was like 'This isn't normal'."

Then just 8, Kyle couldn't sleep and spent several days in agony, Whyte said.

"They transferred him into HDU [High Dependency Unit] for ketamine and morphine."

Over the next few days. Whyte noticed Kyle's leg was cold and that he couldn't feel her touch his toes.

On discharge, Whyte struggled to get her sizable son, with both legs in a cast, into her hatchback car. Kyle is 165cm tall and weighs 80kg.

"I had to ring for a wheelchair taxi to come and get us from the hospital. We had no help."

At first, Kyle was thought to have complex regional pain syndrome, ongoing pain that can develop after surgery.

A young boy who suffered a treatment injury after surgery at Waikato Hospital is no longer the active child he used to be. Photo / Alan Gibson

Clinical notes show a question around whether the numbness and pain were related to the removal of the epidural. However, an MRI scan showed "no obvious epidural haematoma or similar".

The surgeon told ACC there were several possibilities for the cause of the damage including use of a tourniquet, sciatic nerve pressure injury from the epidural not being turned regularly, or the complex pain syndrome.

A nerve-conduction test that Whyte pushed for at Starship Hospital showed severe right sciatic nerve damage.

Whyte says at a pain clinic consultation she was blindsided by the MRI results, which she said showed damage to the sciatic nerve.

"It's like he's been in a nasty car accident. I went out for some air and I just broke down crying to Mum because I wasn't expecting the results, so many months later given to me at a pain appointment."

Kyle was referred to a paediatrician. He is now permanently on crutches, uses a wheelchair because he gets tired after walking for too long and has a splint.

The injury left him with foot drop, where the foot is difficult to lift and drags on the floor.

A treatment injury claim was made to ACC by Waikato Hospital in late March 2019 and four months later it was accepted.

ACC said in its treatment injury report the bilateral sciatic nerve injury with associated right foot drop was caused by treatment.

"The likelihood of developing sciatic nerve injury is known to be low and there were no significant risk factors in your case to increase this. On this basis, your claim is covered."

The Herald asked ACC what the cover entitles Kyle to. ACC said it was treating the question as an official request for information which allowed it four weeks to respond.

Whyte said: "I haven't had anything apart from rails installed."

She had also suffered as a result of Kyle's injury, straining her back lifting a 20kg wheelchair into the boot of her car on a regular basis.

Whyte wants to know if her son will ever be able to return to being the active child he once was.

"I've got a son at the moment that doesn't want to go to school, that's had enough and he's sinking into depression, and he's only 10.

"He was always on his scooter and trike. Now he's getting [pain] shocks at night when it's cold.

"There's been no offer of counselling, there's been nothing. There's been no offer of support."

A Waikato District Health Board spokesman said there was always a risk of complication in surgery.

"The complications resulting from this procedure have been discussed in depth via a multi-disciplinary meeting, where specialised members of the relevant teams review such incidents and determine if there could have been alternative interventions to prevent such an outcome.

"In this case, there were no findings that would have altered the outcome for this patient."

He said the DHB acknowledged the family's concern about delays in accessing follow-up treatment.

"The DHB has worked with the family to provide support and apologised for concern and confusion caused while coordinating with another DHB for part of this patient's care."