A septuagenarian suffering from loss of both legs after a medical mistake involving surgery on the wrong knee complains she hasn't received enough compensation despite a doctor praising her for her two brand new knees.
“I have constant pain in my right knee. [Ça] ruined my life,” complained Marie-Jeanne Gourlet, 71, in an interview with “Le Progrès” last Tuesday, according to “Le Figaro”.
The septuagenarian's ordeal began in April 2022 when she had to undergo surgery to insert a prosthesis due to osteoarthritis in her left knee.
But when she woke up, the French woman from Villefranche-sur-Saône in the Rhône region noticed that it was her right knee that had gone under the knife and immediately informed the nurse at her bedside.
“Her face has changed color,” she said, according to the French newspaper. The doctor apologized and shed a tear. He immediately offered me a date for surgery on my left knee the following month, but I didn't want to be completely unable to move.
To correct the situation, according to information from Progrès, a second operation would have been organized for the following August, this time on the left knee.
However, at the same time, the woman began to suffer from unusual pain in her right knee as the inserted prosthesis had a poor seal and a screw penetrated her flesh, forcing her to surrender for the third time in the operating room.
But despite all this history and the pain she continues to endure years later, the septuagenarian would only have received compensation of 1,500 euros, or about $2,190, even if she can no longer “remain static for more than 15 minutes.” [se] “walking or taking long car rides,” she denounced.
In addition, she stated that she doubted the impartiality of the doctor hired by the insurance companies after he assumed that she “should have had surgery on her right knee at some point” and that she now had “two new knees,” complained the seventy year old.
“Other medical investigations are continuing. The analysis of the causes of this human error is established. “Measures to strengthen patient safety in the operating room are being implemented,” said Hôpitaux Nord-Ouest, according to Le Figaro.