Markets 
Amber Johnston
It was supposed to be a routine day procedure. Instead, Melbourne grandmother Debra Buchanan woke to discover she had undergone surgery she had never consented to, after apparently being mistaken for another patient with the same first name.
The 69-year-old says doctors removed parts of her vulva and genital region performing the wrong procedure at the Joan Kirner Women’s and Children’s Hospital in St Albans, an extension of Sunshine Hospital operated by Western Health.
She was meant to undergo surgery to remove a small cancerous lesion on her pelvic area in January.
Buchanan said she was seated beside another patient with the same first name in the pre-operative area.
She said that when hospital staff called out her name, both women responded, but she was reassured she was the intended patient and taken into theatre.
“They called Debra, and I said, ‘Did you mean Buchanan?’, and they said, ‘Oh yes, you’ll do’, and the woman next to me said, ‘I’m Debra’, and they said, ‘Oh, now we’ve got the right one’, and took me down to theatre,” she told A Current Affair.
As a former dental nurse, Buchanan said she found it unusual that staff only used a first name, but like millions of patients every day, she placed her trust in the medical team. When she woke from the anaesthetic, she knew something was wrong.
“I stood up, walked over to the bathroom door and I haemorrhaged everywhere,” she said.
Buchanan said a nurse reassured her it was part of the operation, but she was confused.
“I said, ‘What operation? I had it here’ – and as I touched it, it [the cancerous lesion] was still there.”
She said she was later told she had undergone a VIN vulval wide local excision, a procedure to remove abnormal tissue from the vulva.
The surgery removed her labia minora, hymen and internal vaginal skin, despite it not being the procedure she was scheduled to have.
Buchanan’s husband, Alex, said the couple were devastated when they realised what had happened.
“[The surgeon] just scrubbed up, walked in, operated, and walked out,” he said.
The couple claim hospital staff later confirmed the mix-up after reviewing Buchanan’s referral paperwork, blaming the error on two patients having the same first name and understaffing issues.
This masthead is not suggesting the allegation is true, only that it is Buchanan’s claim on how she was subjected to the incorrect operation.
Buchanan said she was discharged without adequate post-operative support, leaving her husband to search online for advice on caring for her wounds.
Six months later, she said she was still living with the consequences.
“It was pulled so tight with stitches, it always feels like it’s going to tear,” she said.
‘You can’t make a mistake on a person. It’s not like breaking a cup – it’s someone’s life.’
Debra Buchanan
She said the pain had affected every part of her life, from walking and sitting to spending time with friends and her husband.
“Intimacy is one thing – there is none,” she said. “I’m anxious. I’ve lost my confidence.”
Buchanan says she has withdrawn socially and is still struggling to understand why the mistake happened, including what happened to the other patient involved.
The surgery she originally needed still had to be completed, forcing her to return to the same hospital, which she said was “horrific”.
The grandmother of seven has now engaged Carbone Lawyers to sue Western Health and is calling for an independent investigation.
Lawyer Erin Monsalve Fear said Buchanan’s case was one of the most serious instances of apparent medical negligence she had encountered.
“The fact that she was never consulted nor consented appropriately for the surgery prior to it taking place, that’s one of the biggest things this boils down to,” she said.
Western Health chief operating officer John Ferraro declined to comment specifically on Buchanan’s case but said patient safety was the organisation’s top priority.
“Where a patient adverse event has occurred, we provide an apology, meet with the patient, undertake a review of the incident, and share the findings and actions taken to help prevent a recurrence,” he said.
“We are committed to open and transparent communication with patients throughout this process.”
Buchanan said she was sharing her story because she wanted to ensure no patient ever experiences what she did.
“I know a lot of people are too frightened to talk sometimes,” she said. “Well, I’m not. I need to get it out there so it doesn’t happen to anyone else. You can’t make a mistake on a person. It’s not like breaking a cup – it’s someone’s life.”
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