Mother wins damages claim for son's wrong knee surgery

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.

- ZELDA VENTER

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.