Husband's 'painful' admission on Grandma left 'mutilated' after hospital accidentally removed part of her genitalia
The husband of a woman left mutilated following a catastrophic hospital error has spoken out about the 'pain' she was left in.
Debra Buchanan, a grandmother, was expected to have a routine surgery to remove a cancerous lesion in her pelvic region, but instead came around after the operation to find they had removed a large section of her exterior genitalia.
Alex, her husband, is rightly furious on behalf of his wife for the agony she has been through following the mistake, which happened at the Joan Kirner Women’s and Children’s Hospital at Sunshine Hospital on January 23.
She has been left scarred for life following the incident, which Debra says happened after the hospital called out for a patient with the same first name as her, leading to a mix-up.
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Speaking to an Australian news programme, called A Current Affair, the grandma recalled: “They called Deborah, and I said, ‘Did you mean Buchanan?’ And they said, ‘Oh yes, you’ll do'".
“The woman next to me said, ‘I’m Deborah,’ and they said, ‘Oh no, we’ve got the right one’" she explained.
A furious Alex told the interviewer: "He just scrubbed up, walked in, chopped her and walked out," as he wiped away tears.
"He's a mongrel, he must have been a cowboy to have that much confidence in himself," he alleged.
"She was in so much pain, it wasn't funny," recalled a heartbroken Alex.
Debra has been a dental nurse for many years, and said she would never call a patient just by their first name.
She remembered how the anaesthetist was preparing her for the operation, and how she didn't get to see the surgeon before she was put under but assumed they 'know what they're doing', and says to this day she still hasn't met the surgeon.
It was only when his wife woke up after the surgery and attempted to use the toilet that Debra realised something was very wrong, and found she was haemorrhaging between her legs.
A distressed Debra asked a nurse for help and why she was bleeding like that, to be told it was just 'part of the operation'.
Confused, she replied: "What operation?... I had it on here," and touched where her skin tag was, only to find it was still there.
A junior doctor attended, and it's claimed they 'look at her like she was mad' when she said the wrong operation had been done.
The surgeon said "What we did was a horseshoe shape, and we stitched around" to which Debra asked "Why were you in there?"
Alex recalled his wife's heartbreaking phone call where she asked him to come to the hospital, pleading "I don't want you to get angry... she just said they'd done the wrong operation."
Debra then had to return to have the correct surgery: “I was terrified,” she said. “Every time I have to go to the doctor, anxious; I’ve lost my confidence."
“You can’t make a mistake on a person. It’s not like breaking a cup. It’s life to them.”
ABC News spoke to Buchanan's lawyer, Erin Monsalve Fear, who said the incident was a 'complete systemic failure' by the hospital.
"There's so many safeguards and procedures that should be in place to prevent this from occurring and it's evident that those have simply failed or not been followed in Deb's instance," Monsalve Fear added.
"There [has] been some acceptance from the hospital that the wrong procedure was performed, it hasn't really amounted to an apology to Deb."
Western Health chief operating officer John Ferraro said: “Due to our obligations to protect patient privacy and confidentiality, we are unable to comment on the care of any individual patient."
“In line with Victoria’s Statutory Duty of Candour requirements, where a patient adverse event has occurred, we provide an apology, meet with the patient, undertake a review of the incident, and share the findings and actions taken to help prevent a recurrence.
Tyla has reached out to the hospital for comment
Topics: Health, Australia, Women's Health, World News
Jen Thomas