Mother forced to live with a stoma after Caboolture Hospital surgery goes terribly wrong
A mother’s life completely changed when she went to Caboolture Hospital for a laparoscopy but left with a perforated bowel.
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What should have been a simple day surgery left Janelle Oldfield fighting for life when a surgeon accidentally nicked her bladder and perforated her bowel at Caboolture Hospital.
The 46-year-old from Kilcoy went to Caboolture Hospital on Tuesday, April 13, for a laparoscopy due to a cyst on her ovary and an issue with her fallopian tube, she was due to be released the same day but was told her bladder had been cut so would need to stay overnight.
She left the next day, Wednesday, April 14, but by Saturday morning she had become extremely unwell with blood poisoning and was rushed back to hospital by an ambulance.
It turned out the botched surgery had also perforated her bowel but that wasn’t discovered until she returned to hospital with sepsis where she was forced to undergo emergency surgery.
That procedure left the mother of three adult children with a stoma – a surgically created opening in the abdomen for a colostomy bag to attach to.
After a two-week stay in hospital Mrs Oldfield was finally able to return home, where she is the full-time carer for her husband, but has had ongoing complications as a result of the ordeal.
“It’s horrendous, I never knew what stoma was before all of this,” she said.
Unable to leave the house to even do shopping until last week because she fears her colostomy bag will leak, Mrs Oldfield said her life had completely changed.
“I can’t do the things I used to do, it’s very soul crushing,” she said
“At this stage the stoma is reversible … I’m not looking forward to going back in for that operation after what has happened.”
Mrs Oldfield said her trust in the medical profession had been “shattered” and put a complaint into the hospital.
“I haven’t heard from the doctor that caused all of this and I tried to find out (last week) who it was and I just got shunted around,” she said.
She said made the decision to share her story with The Courier-Mail because “I don’t want this happening to anyone else”.
An inquiry into Caboolture Hospital’s surgical department is currently underway after The Courier-Mail revealed shocking allegations made by former and current staff that patients were being harmed, and in the worst cases killed, as a result of botched surgeries and substandard care.
Opposition Leader David Crisafulli said what was happening at Caboolture Hospital was “real”.
“It’s absolutely crucial that genuine protections are in place for whistleblowers and for the brave Queenslanders who speak up,” he said. A spokesman for Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said whistleblowers acting in the public interest were protected under Queensland law.
“Any reprisal against whistleblowers is unlawful and a specific offence under the Act, and can attract imprisonment of up to two years,” he said.
The calls have been echoed by Nurses Professional Association Queensland state secretary Aenghas Hopkinson-Pearson who said that the Health Ombudsman had written to him requesting all documents in his possession regarding the Caboolture Inquiry.
“Our whistleblowers are fearful, and have severe reservations that they will be targeted if that information were provided to the OHO,” he said.
“The Health Ombudsman is likely able to access the information they’ve requested without us having to potentially expose our nurses, as a result, we will be exercising our rights under Health Ombudsman Act s 48(4) to avoid incriminating our sources.”
Metro North Hospital and Health Service said it was unable to answer questions regarding specific cases due to privacy reasons.
“Caboolture Hospital has rigorous safety and quality protocols in place, with patient care its utmost priority and would investigate the circumstances as part of the review,” a spokesman said.
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