Review underway after patient says wrong leg amputated at Winnipeg hospital

Patient says she was supposed to have left leg amputated, but right leg was removed instead.

A Winnipeg woman is demanding answers after she says the wrong leg was amputated at a Winnipeg hospital. The woman, who asked not to be identified, was admitted to the Health Sciences Centre in May 2021 with a severe infection in her left leg. She says she was told by doctors that her left leg would have to be amputated below the knee. However, when she woke up from surgery, she was shocked to discover that her right leg had been amputated instead. "I couldn't believe it," she said. "I kept asking the doctors and nurses, 'Why did you take my right leg?'" The woman says she is now living with the consequences of the wrong leg amputation. She has difficulty walking and has lost all feeling in her right leg. She is also struggling to come to terms with the fact that her life has been changed forever. "I don't know how I'm going to move on from this," she said. "I don't know how I'm going to live with this for the rest of my life." The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WRHA) confirmed that an investigation is underway into the wrong leg amputation. In a statement, the WRHA said that it "deeply regrets" the error and is "committed to understanding how this happened and preventing it from happening again." The WRHA said that the patient has been offered support and counselling, and that she is being provided with a prosthetic leg. The woman's lawyer, Ian Runkle, said that he is considering filing a lawsuit against the WRHA. "This is a very serious matter," Runkle said. "My client has suffered a great deal of pain and suffering, and she deserves to be compensated for what has happened to her." The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba is also investigating the wrong leg amputation. The college is responsible for regulating the practice of medicine in Manitoba. It has the authority to discipline doctors who have committed professional misconduct. The wrong leg amputation is the latest in a series of high-profile medical errors in Canada. In 2019, a patient at the Ottawa Hospital died after receiving the wrong blood transfusion. In 2018, a patient at the University of Alberta Hospital had her uterus removed during a hysterectomy, even though she had specifically requested that it be left in place. These errors have raised concerns about the quality of patient care in Canada. The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) has called for a national inquiry into medical errors. The CMA says that the inquiry should focus on identifying the causes of medical errors and developing strategies to prevent them from happening in the future.