Lady loses leg, health service loses records
"EVERY morning is a constant reminder.
The pain shoots up her body as she fumbles to put on her prosthetic leg. Gwen Illingworth should be making the most of her old age in the garden or out shopping with friends, but her life was turned upside down when she checked into Liverpool Hospital in November 2006 to have a blood clot treated and ended up losing a leg.
Every time she puts on her leg she remembers her time at Liverpool.
The Mittagong senior citizen’s story is strikingly similar to that of Colo Vale man Gregor Gniewosz.
Like Mr Gniewosz, Mrs Illingworth contracted the staph infection MRSA during her stay at Liverpool and had to have her left leg amputated below the knee.
Ms Illingworth doesn’t want an apology from the hospital but she does want someone to be held accountable so that patients of NSW’s health system don’t suffer the same fate.
It is not just losing her leg that has upset Mrs Illingworth.
Her medical records from December 2006 to January 2007 - the period when she was diagnosed with MRSA and had her leg amputated - are missing and the Sydney South West Area Health Service (SSWAHS) is yet to find them.
The mother of three said that during her stay at Liverpool she was treated poorly by staff and was not given a wheelchair until two days before she was checked out, leaving her bed ridden throughout her stay.
Daughter Louise Veenman said she had to steal an office chair for her mother to get around the hospital.
After seven months waiting for modifications to her bathroom, Mrs Illingworth took her complaints to the NSW Ombudsmen.
Almost immediately, the health service sprang into action and her bathroom was modified within weeks.
More than two years after she stayed at Liverpool Hospital Mrs Illingworth isn’t any closer to achieving a resolution.
Her complaints were referred to the HealthCare Complaints Commission (HCCC), but her case was considered not worthy of investigation.
Instead it was referred to a resolution officer.
Still unsatisfied, Mrs Illingworth said she was considering legal action to get justice.
In a letter she wrote in July 2007 but never sent to the SSWAHS, she outlined her complaints:
- Queries and questions about her condition and health were ignored or brushed off;
- Liverpool Hospital staff were often rude, unsympathetic and unsupportive;
- Staff were not monitoring her condition efficiently or listening to her concerns;
- The infection spread to the bone;
- MRSA was not identified until too late and insufficient monitoring by hospital staff helped this infection go undetected and spread;
- After the infection was detected, Mrs Illingworth wasn’t moved to an isolated room but stayed in a room with three other people;
- Liverpool Hospital did not effectively communicate her condition and requirements to Camden Hospital.
Mrs Illingworth said when she was discharged from rehabilitation at Camden Hospital in 2007 she was given a walking frame 5cm too small, which resulted in injuries to her spine.
When she complained, she was told it was because of the way she was lying.
But Mrs Illingworth hasn’t lost faith in all hospitals and said her stay at St Vincent’s in Darlinghurst in 2008 for a hysterectomy was a completely different story.
“They couldn’t have done enough,” she said.
“I am never going back to Liverpool.”
Being neglected during her two-month stay in Liverpool is Mrs Illingworth’s major gripe.
“If there was a bit more care given, it wouldn’t have happened,” she said.
“If you have an amputation, you don’t leave someone on pure oxygen because you have something else to do.”
The SSWAHS said it treated any concerns from patients very seriously but would not comment on Mrs Illingworth’s stay at Liverpool.
“This matter was referred to the HCCC. The SSWAHS has been co-operating fully with the HCCC to resolve this matter,” a spokesperson said.
“It would be inappropriate for the hospital to provide any further comment at this time.”
Mrs Illingworth said when she was told she was going to lose her leg she felt like she was going to die.
She led an active life before November 2006. Having lost her husband Harry in 2003 she has been left alone to battle on with no explanation why her records can’t be found or why an operation to treat a blood clot saw her lose her leg, mobility and her quality of life."
Interestingly, this story does have a similarity to one of Socrates earlier posts about the Bundanoon woman whose complaint was not responded to HCCC by SSWAHS until after the woman died from a lung cancer. Then HCCC said that it was too late for them to deal with it.
One has to wonder just how serious something has to be before HCCC investigates a health related complaint? Death or amputation of limbs don't seem to be good enough reasons it would seem. I wonder if Mrs Illingworth ever got to hear about her records or her complaint from the Ombudsman's office or SSWAHS? I guess for the SSWAHS Executive, who are great at backslapping each other, the loss of limbs or life in their patients is just collateral damage!
