Mother's heart-wrenching battle for justice after son undergoes surgery on the wrong knee

A mother described how happy she was to see her then 8-year-old son coming out of the theatre, because finally the long-awaited operation on his deformed knee was done - only to discover that the doctors had operated on the wrong knee.

The mother, who is not identified to protect her minor son, told the High Court in Polokwane that she cried tears of joy when she first saw her son. This was before she had realised that the doctors had operated on the right knee instead of the left knee.

She subsequently instituted a damages claim against the Limpopo MEC for Health as she argued that the doctor who performed the wrong operation on her son at the Lebowakgomo Hospital was negligent.

The boy, only identified as O, underwent a surgical procedure called femoral supracondylar osteotomy on his right knee instead of his left. A doctor at the hospital initially diagnosed O as having "anterior ligament instability".

An expert who testified during the trial told the court that the doctor should reasonably have been aware that knee ligament injuries are improbable in growing children. The expert concluded that in O's case, the probable diagnosis was a cruciate ligament.

Although O was never admitted to the hospital with a history of a problem with his right-side knee, and the available records demonstrate planned surgery to reconstruct a ligament in his left-side knee, inexplicably, a surgery was performed on his right knee.

During surgery, the surgeon decided to abandon the ligament repair as the ligaments were found to be intact on the right-sided knee. The surgeon, instead of abandoning the procedure so that he could further consult with the mother and plan afresh for an alternative treatment, continued to perform the operation on the right knee. The result was a massive flexion deformity of the femur.

The medical expert told the court that not only did the surgeon operate on the incorrect leg, but the surgery that he performed on the incorrect leg itself was also flawed in terms of the result that he apparently attempted to achieve.

Due to poor aftercare and rehabilitation, O's right femur healed with gross malalignment and loss of mobility of the right knee. To make matters worse, he was still left with his problems relating to his left knee.

The mother, meanwhile, testified that when her son was a year-and-a-half, she noticed he could not walk. She took him to various hospitals, and it was decided that he needed to wear a brace on his left leg, but it did not work.

The orthopaedic surgeon who eventually performed the wrong operation was recommended to her by a neighbour. She subsequently signed the consent for the operation which pertained to left knee ligament reconstruction and arthroscopy surgery.

This surgery had to be postponed twice for various reasons, which included non-functioning theatre equipment. She was so relieved when he was eventually operated on, but she could not stop crying when she realised it was the wrong knee.

According to the mother, she never gave consent for the right knee to be operated on, as she was never told there were problems with both knees. But she said the doctor insisted to her it was the right knee.

In ruling against the health authority, Acting Judge LA Nkoana said without presenting any evidence on the facts to the court, it has no reason not to accept the evidence of the mother and her expert regarding the negligence of the doctor. The amount of damages payable will be decided at a later hearing.

Cape Times