WARNING: This story contains graphic images
A 6-year-old Auckland girl is "traumatised“ and likely permanently scarred after a nurse sliced her skin with a saw during the “incorrect” removal of a cast.
Saskia Corrigan told the Herald her daughter Lola – who has autism – was “screaming” as she was cut numerous times but the nurses were adamant it was “impossible” for the saw to touch skin.
Days later the medical centre manager conceded the saw had in fact directly injured Lola, and confirmed errors had been made during the removal.
The manager later told the Herald the saw “could not cut skin” but in a formal statement again conceded the child received “lacerations”.
In December, Lola fractured her right ankle when she fell from playground equipment.
She was treated at North West Medical Centre (NWMC) in Hobsonville and had a cast put on her foot.
On February 10, Corrigan returned to NWMC with Lola to have the cast removed.
“Lola is okay with loud noises, and if you talk her through what you are doing she is fine. She also has a pretty high pain tolerance,” Corrigan said.
“When the nurse was about three-quarters of the way down her shin Lola suddenly looked up and screamed. She was saying ‘ouch – you hurt me, you cut me’.
“The nurse pulled back and said ‘no, I didn’t cut you, this saw can’t cut people, you’re okay – you’re probably just scared’.
“Lola isn’t fully verbal but she is verbal enough ... she was screaming ‘no’ and trying to get out of the room saying her leg was really sore.”
A second nurse was called in to help and Corrigan said she was “very abrupt” with Lola.
“I said ‘we think she’s been cut’ and she said no, that’s not possible. The saw can make the fibreglass hot but it can’t cut through skin,” said Corrigan.
“Lola started shaking, her teeth were chattering, she was hyperventilating ... she was trying to get it off herself and the fibreglass was really sharp.
“My partner and I had to hold her down … Lola was screaming ‘I feel scared, take me home’. I was in tears and my partner was pacing the room."
When Lola’s foot was finally free she had a number of large and obvious cuts and wounds.
Corrigan said the second nurse said the wounds were “only superficial” and wiped them with a damp paper towel.
She claimed the nurse did not clean the cuts and only put plasters on them when asked to.
“We said ‘why did this happen? We know it was the saw’,” Corrigan said.
“They said ‘yeah okay it does look like it was the saw, it shouldn’t happen but it can happen'.
“Afterwards, in the car I was like ‘what the f*** – she was just cut by a saw. I felt sick to my stomach, I was so traumatised, I was in shock,” said Corrigan.
Corrigan made a formal complaint that night about Lola’s treatment.
She later took Lola to the family GP to check the cuts. It was confirmed she had a bacterial infection, which needed a 10-day course of antibiotics.
“They said she will have permanent scars. It’s just awful ... what should have been a simple procedure is now a staph infection, which is insane – it’s absolutely atrocious.”
Three days after the complaint, NWMC general manager Kathleen Kerr responded to Corrigan by email, saying she had “conducted a full investigation into the incident”.
She had “identified several areas” that needed to be addressed, including “staff manners, customer service, wound care and removing casts safely and correctly”.
“I have also had the saw checked and serviced to make sure it’s not able to cut anyone again,” she said.
“We found that the saw was not faulty but a combination of too much pressure applied and where the nurses were cutting the cast was incorrect.”
She said the incident identified training issues including “a lack of experience in cast removal”.
“Immediate training” had been organised for all nursing staff and she offered “sincere apologies” from herself and the nurses involved, who had been “deeply upset by all of this”.
In a formal statement to the Herald, Kerr said the procedure was “challenging due to swelling in her limb – a secondary effect of the injury – as well as her heightened sensitivity related to her disability”.
“An experienced nurse, trained in cast removal and application at Starship ED, initiated the procedure using the appropriate equipment and techniques. However, due to the limb swelling, the protective plastic ruler, typically used to safeguard the skin, could not be properly positioned.”
She said after Lola was injured, her parents were “given the option to have the cast removed at the hospital, but they declined”.
“The nurses informed them of the potential risks, including minor saw cuts, which are generally superficial and heal well. Despite careful efforts, Lola sustained multiple superficial lacerations, which were immediately dressed at the clinic,” she said.
After investigating, Kerr “confirmed that all recommended tools were available and that the staff had followed established protocols”.
“However, in complex cases such as Lola’s, alternative cutting sites and adjustments in pressure application could be considered to further minimise risk.
“In good faith, the investigation report was tailored specifically for Lola’s parents, omitting additional clinical perspectives to prevent further distress.”
Corrigan rejected parts of the statement, saying Lola had no swelling nor were they given any hospital option.
“We would have 1000% taken that,” she said.
Corrigan has asked NWMC for compensation to cover Lola’s ongoing medical treatment and her own loss of income because she has had to take time off work.
She has complained to the Ministry of Health and Health and Disability Commissioner.
She said the “distress and ongoing terror” Lola felt would be “far-reaching”.
“I am speaking out to bring awareness to a situation that is not okay,” she said.
“God forbid something worse happened. I felt powerless … Lola is so traumatised. It breaks my heart to see her like this."
Anna Leask is a Christchurch-based reporter who covers national crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2008 and has worked as a journalist for 18 years with a particular focus on family and gender-based violence, child abuse, sexual violence, homicides, mental health and youth crime. She writes, hosts and produces the award-winning podcast A Moment In Crime, released monthly on nzherald.co.nz
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