Dr Steven Lawrie suing Kawana Private Hospital over sliced hand

A top southeast Qld orthopaedic surgeon claims he suffered permanent impairment due to a well-known design flaw in a key piece of equipment.

A top southeast Queensland orthopaedic surgeon is suing the hospital he practises at for nearly $2 million over claims a well-known defect in a key piece of equipment led to him slicing his hand open mid-surgery, leaving him with lasting impairment.

Dr Steven Alan Lawrie, 53, surgeon at the Sunshine Coast Orthopaedic Clinic, located within the Kawana Private Hospital complex, lodged the claim, worth at least $1,875,000, in the Supreme Court of Queensland earlier this month.

The claim says his injury, suffered on August 16, 2019 during an ACL reconstruction, was as a result of a “defective” brand of scalpel passing trays, Bladesafe, and further that Kawana Private Hospital management knew of this defect because it was discussed at a Medical Advisory Committee meeting on July 25, 2019.

According to the claim, this defect was that the Bladesafe trays were fitted with a groove, used to hold scalpels in place, which did not fit the “flat handle” scalpels favoured by orthopaedic surgeons and used by Dr Lawrie.

These flat-handle scalpels “tended to become lodged in the groove or recess of the tray such that there was insufficient space available to the surgeon to enable them to achieve secure purchase on the scalpel handle when retrieving the instrument from the tray”.

Dr Steven Lawrie in 2015. Photo: Iain Curry / Sunshine Coast Daily

The effect of this, the claim says, was a “risk that the surgeon would lose their grip on the scalpel, resulting in their dropping the scalpel and exposing them to a risk of a lacerating injury were the scalpel to pivot in the groove or bounce from the base of the tray”.

This, Dr Lawrie claims, is exactly what happened.

During the ACL reconstruction, at about 10.05am, the plaintiff used his thumb and forefinger to attempt to remove the scalpel from the Bladesafe tray, but could not as it was “lodged tightly” in the groove or recess of the tray.

Upon his releasing it, the blade “stood up”, inflicting a “laceration to the volar aspect of his right index finger involving a severance of the digital nerve and dorsal sensory branch nerve”.

The claim says this injury has “permanently impaired” Dr Lawrie.

In particular, Dr Lawrie has experienced and will continue to experience “pain, suffering and loss of amenities”, has had to take time out from performing surgeries, and will lose out on future earnings due to his injury, according to the claim.

The exact quantum of the mandatory final offer submitted to Kawana Private Hospital on Dr Lawrie’s behalf by solicitor Travis Schultz, managing partner of Travis Schultz & Partners, is not known as it remains under seal.

However, the claim is for at least $1,875,771.21, calculated by totalling the separate heads of damage alleged in the document.

Kawana Private Hospital is yet to respond to the statement of claim.