“I’m so sorry, Roy. There’s nothing that anyone can do now. I can’t express how sorry we are. Our hospital and staff are horrified that this happened. This should never have happened to you. Take a minute to steady yourself. I’m going to get the file from the medical records. I want to make sure that I explain everything to you in detail.”
Lucy left the room, and Roy was now alone.Take a minute? te? No Not likely. Someone will pay for this! Someone will have to take responsibility. How am I ever going to function from now on? What will my life be like back home at Norah Head? Will I embarrass myself? What happened to the hospital staff on duty that day? Why wasn’t the doctor in charge looking after my operation? Who really did the cutting?
The door opened. The curtain swung around and Lucy reappeared, carrying the black folder. She glanced at the first page.“Okay if I sit at the edge of the bed?” she asked.
“Suppose so.”
Lucy looked down at the folder. Her hands shook as she turned the page. “I’m going to be completely honest with you. This is the incident report dated December 19, 2006, 3:13 pm. Operation
Elissa Scott theatre room 62. Present and in attendance: two nurses, one intern, and one doctor in charge.“Lucy?” Roy interrupted. “Am I going to be okay?” “Let me read on, Roy. It’s important that I finish.”
He nodded.
“At 4:06 pm the cautery—that’s the heating element—is turned on and your anesthetic was administered. Dr. Andrews made the incision to expose the bowel and inspected the area of suspected cancer. Both nurses check the monitors and confirm each other’s readings. At that point, everything is fine. The intern is noted as being present as an observer only.”
She paused and looked at him. “Roy, do you remember at the beginning of your operation, Dr. Andrews let you know that they would be cutting the cancer-affected area out of the bowel?”
Roy nodded.“It says that, once they got inside, it didn’t look as bad, so they decided to just burn off the cancer cells. They all thought it would be a better option for you—quicker recovery and early departure from the hospital. You agreed earlier, on the consent form, that you’d be okay if the scope of the operation changed once they opened you up.” She held up the page so he could see it.
He nodded again.“The handwriting is messier on the next page, but I’ll try to figure it out,” she continued. “Looks like the intern was to let the doctor and one nurse know when the cautery timer went off. The doctor popped out to the bathroom, the timer went off, and instead of letting the doctor know when he re-entered the room, and the intern decided that another twenty seconds would completely burn all the affected areas. In fact, that’s when the damage to the lining of your bowel occurred. I’m so sorry, Roy. If the cautery was switched off when the timer had buzzed your bowel would have been fine.
Decisions = Destiny The final page says you’ve been so badly burned that the scar tissue won’t ever heal.The hole in the lining of your bowel is causing the leaking . . .”
Roy jolted and threw his arms around himself. Lucy fell onto the vinyl floor. When she looked at Roy, his face was red, he was shaking with rage and his left eye was seeping. He reached towards Lucy and grabbed her by the neck.
“Where’s that intern now?” he leaned forward and screamed. “I don’t know,” she whispered as he loosened his grip. “Please calm down; the patients can hear you.”“I don’t care, girl! You will pay for this!”
“Let me go,” she pleaded, wondering why someone hadn’t already called security.
“Calm down?” he growled into her face. “Does anyone know if my cancer is gone? Does anyone know? I came in for an operation for cancer and now I need nappies! This is unforgivable. I’ll get you back for this!” He pulled Lucy’s hair and moved his face less than an inch from hers. “How does a leaky bowel get fixed, girl?” he screamed at her, propelling spit onto her skin. “Are you going to be with me ‘round the clock’ to change my nappies? What will my life be like outside this hellhole? Do you even care, girl? Who’s going to help me?” He dribbled the last words as he fell back, exhausted, onto the pillow.
Lucy bolted to the door, fighting the desire to stay and console him. She needed to alert the staff.Ends