Bone stuck out after amputation
2009-07-29 10:05
Johannesburg – A resident from an old-age home in the North West province lay for weeks with a piece of femur "as long as his finger" protruding from the wound after a leg amputation at a state hospital.
Leon Hurter, 64, of the Koster old-age home was conscious and only his lower body was numb while his right leg was amputated at Job Shimankana Tabane Hospital in Rustenburg on May 12.
"They only gave me an injection in my back, which was terribly sore, and said I couldn't be given anaesthesia as my veins were too weak.
"They were scared I wouldn't come to again," Hurter said on Tuesday.
'I heard sawing'
Hunter, who lost his left leg due to gangrene some time ago, said he could hear the doctors speaking the whole time during the amputation from where he was lying behind a screen.
"Then I suddenly heard sawing. It was terrible. I just lay quietly and asked the Lord to show mercy and keep me calm."
Hurter's sister, Ina van As, said he was released on May 29 and went back to the home, but only a day later, his femur protruded through the amputation wound.
"When I sat down, the piece of bone protruded about the length of my finger from the leg and when I lay down on my bed, it pulled back," said Hurter.
Van As said an experienced nurse apparently explained, "Oh Lord, please close up," when she saw the wound.
The nurses at the home kept the wound clean and Hurter went back to the Koster hospital where a doctor apparently "shook his head" when he saw the wound and referred him back to Rustenburg.
Hurter was admitted to Job Shimankana Tabane Hospital again on June 11, and waited four days for an additional amputation.
When Van As visited him on June 14, she burst into tears. "When he opened that leg, I became so nauseous I became dizzy. I wanted to faint," she said.
Weak circulation
The additional amputation was done on June 15 and the wound has now healed.
Tebogo Lekgethwane of the North West department of health said on Tuesday that it wasn't unusual to see repeated amputations in people with vascular conditions.
He said the procedure was done "properly" the first time. Hurter was given a spinal block in his lower body because he was clinically unsuited for anaesthesia due to the condition of his lungs and his age.
Lekgethwane said the stump became septic as Hurter had weak circulation due to the fact that he had been a smoker for 39 years.