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A doctor has closed his practice after a complication during treatment resulted in a woman having both legs amputated.
The Health and Disability Commissioner found that a vein treatment specialist breached the Code of Health and Disability Services consumers rights during his treatment of a woman in her seventies.
The woman visited the doctor for varicose vein treatment, which involved the injection of a chemical into the vein. Her doctor informed her of possible complications, including the risk of mistakenly injecting a main artery.
Later that evening, the woman reported severe pain and colour blotches in both feet. The doctor arranged a follow-up appointment to apologise for the error and advise her on managing the pain, but did not refer the woman to a hospital.
Less than a week later, she was admitted to a public hospital with severe pain and discolouration in both feet.
She was forced to undergo below-the-knee amputations on both legs due to tissue death from a lack of blood flow.
Aged Care Commissioner Carolyn Cooper said the doctor should have referred the woman to an emergency facility immediately upon learning of the possible arterial event.
She said he had breached the code by failing to provide a service with reasonable care and skill.
The doctor wrote a letter of apology to the woman and apologised to the HDC. He has since closed his practice and no longer performs any vein procedures.
