Paula Wilcock sues Northern NSW Health after surgery allegedly gone wrong

A young woman is suing a regional hospital for past and future economic loss after a normally routine surgery allegedly left her struggling to walk.

A Gold Coast woman is suing a regional health service over an allegedly botched routine surgery.

Paula Wilcock, 27, was admitted to Tweed Hospital on December 14, 2020 with pain in her lower right abdomen, symptoms consistent with a flare-up of endometriosis.

Endometriosis is a disorder where tissue usually found lining the inside of the uterus grows on the outside of the uterus, which can cause fertility issues and often severe pain during menstrual cycles.

It affects about 10 per cent of reproductive-aged women.

Court documents claim doctors at Tweed Hospital told the Currumbin Waters women they would perform a keyhole surgery called a laparoscopy if her condition did not improve within the day.

Laparoscopies can both diagnose and treat endometrial tissue if it is found.

The Tweed Hospital. Picture: Jessica Lamb

Court documents say doctors operated on Ms Wilcock two days later and cut out the endometrial tissue.

They detail how doctors also drained haematomas that developed in Ms Wilcock’s abdomen and operated on her bile ducts over the following two days.

Ms Wilcock’s statement of claim, lodged in Lismore District Court, claims Northern New South Wales Local Health District was negligent in damaging her external iliac artery during surgery and failing to diagnose or respond adequately to her internal bleeding.

The external iliac artery provides the main blood supply to the legs, and splits off into the femoral artery in the thigh.

Ms Wilcock has reported sepsis, internal and external scarring, continuing endometriosis and psychological injuries as a result of the surgeries.

She claims she can no longer work more than 20 hours a week, and lives with pain and stiffness in her right leg.

Ms Wilcock said in court documents she needed painkillers to ease the pain and must now take blood thinning medication.

She is suing the health service for about $30,000 in past and future economic loss, as a result of her injuries and treatment.

There are not yet any defence documents from the health service on the court file.

The case is next listed in Lismore District Court in November.