Lorraine Brewin is now starting to rebuild her life after United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust admitted ‘failures in her care’ following a routine operation to remove varicose veins from her left leg in January 2009 caused complications leading an amputation.
The story is reported in the Sun Newspaper today and further details are given on Grantham News Website. The 46-year-old said: “The last three years have been the most upsetting and physically painful of my life and the fact that the amputation could so easily have been avoided, had I received the right care, is something I don’t think I’ll ever get over.
“Before the surgery I was fit and healthy apart from the varicose veins but I’ve been wheelchair bound ever since.”
We don’t know all the details because this appears to have been settled out of court and we may never know the whole story. It is likely this Lorraine had surgical stripping under a general anaesthetic. Non-surgical treatments under local anaesthetic and monitored by ultrasound at all stages are much safer.