#HospitalGenocide: Update: Johnny McGeeghan sue ANC Hospital after a simple surgery in Steve Biko Hospital left him disabled

Man wakes up without legs

A simple bypass procedure to improve blood flow to the lower limbs turned into a nightmare after a man’s legs were amputated

A man who went to theatre under the impression that he was going to undergo a simple bypass procedure to improve the blood flow to his legs woke up in ICU only to discover that both his legs had been amputated.

Johnny McGeeghan 

Man wakes up after supposed bypass without his legs

The patient was under the impression that he would undergo a simple bypass to improve blood flow to his legs. He woke up in ICU to find that both his legs had been amputated

MBOMBELA – A local man who went to theatre under the impression that he was going to undergo a simple bypass procedure, woke up in ICU only to discover that both his legs had been amputated.

Mr Johnny McGeechan (50) is suing the Gauteng Department of Health for more than R3 million after the surgery in Steve Biko Hospital left him disabled. He used to be a farmer but is unable to work any longer. He applied for a disability grant last week.

According to court documents, McGeechan saw a physician in Mbombela on January 17 last year when he experienced pain and tenderness in his right lower leg. The doctor recommended that he go to a hospital urgently for treatment. His son resides in Gauteng and he went there to seek treatment at Steve Biko as he had done before.

Also read: Department of Health unperturbed by court order

He went to casualties that same day where he was told to return on January 21, 2014. However, the pain persisted and McGeechan returned to the hospital’s casualties on January 18. He was admitted and two doctors informed him that he would be sent for a CT scan on January 20.

The scan wasn’t perform as scheduled, but McGeechan was told that he would require a vascular bypass surgery to improve blood flow to his legs. On January 22 a Dopler scan (sonar) was performed and McGeechan was informed that he had a deep vein thrombosis in his right leg.

On the morning of January 23, he developed the same pain in the left leg and only then was an emergency CT scan performed. He was then taken to theatre for an emergency vascular bypass operation.

It was only when he woke up later in ICU, that he realised that both of his legs had been amputated. He was then required to sign a consent form for the amputation, which he did.

Also read: Baby cut during C-section

McGeechan is of the opinion that, had the CT scan been performed earlier, physicians could have intervened sooner and his legs could possibly have been saved. He is consequently suing the department for R100 000 for past medical expenditure, R500 000 for estimated future medical expenditure, R2 million for an estimated loss of income and another R700 000 for general damages.

Ms Lesley Anne Breytenbach of Breytenbach & Van der Merwe Attorneys who specialises in personal injury and medical negligence, is handling McGeechan’s case. She said they had only received an appearance to defend from Gauteng’s MEC for health. “We are in the early stages of litigation.”

The department didn’t respond to enquiries at the time of going to print.http://lowvelder.co.za/299559/man-wakes-up-after-supposed-bypass-without-his-legs/

ALSO READ:
■ #HospitalGenocide: "Where's My Legs?"... Nelspruit farmer, Johnny McGeechan goes to government hospital for bypass surgery, wakes up with no legs

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