Add CategoryUP TO three women had contraceptive devices implanted without their consent in an Auckland clinic.
A report by New Zealand’s Health and Disability Commissioner revealed the women had intra-uterine contraceptive devices (IUCD) wrongly implanted in their uteri during surgery undertaken for first-trimester abortions, with one woman only finding out nearly three years later after she visited her GP because she was having trouble getting pregnant, according to NZ media reports.
The Auckland woman, “Ms Aâ€, had undergone an abortion procedure at Epsom Day Unit in 2010, which offers surgical abortions up to 13 weeks, when the device was planted by a doctor, referred to as “Dr Câ€.
The report found Dr C does not remember Ms A, however he believes the nurse left an opened IUCD on the tool tray, which he took to mean Ms A had consented to the contraception.
“The bottom-end nurse … had opened a multiload IUCD and placed it on the instrument trolley and therefore inserted it at the end of the operation believing that this was appropriate and that [Ms A] had given consent for this to occur,†Dr C said.
Four other patients out of the eight he was performing surgery on that day were scheduled for he implantation of the device.
Dr C told Health and Disability Commissioner Anthony Hill it was not standard practice for the operating surgeon to check each patient’s consent, nor was it for him to check the patient’s paperwork before surgery as he would have been wearing sterile gloves and be prepped for the procedure.
However a nurse said the notes were available for review by the surgeon without needing to touch them if needed.
The report revealed another patient discovered she had been incorrectly fitted with the device when her nurse noticed post-operation she was on the pill and was taken back into surgery to have it removed.
A nurse also recalled during training they were advised a different patient was implanted with an IUCD without consent.
Dr C often performed 10 surgeries a day, twice a week and had been doing his first-trimester abortion procedures for almost 15 years.
The investigation into the incident found it was the responsibility of Dr C to confirm the consent for the insertion of an IUCD to Ms A and the system failure in place at the time does not excuse him from failing to do so.
The clinic has since undergone a number of reforms, including a nurse in surgery formally announcing whether a patient has consented to a contraceptive device and physically showing the surgeon the consent form.