Stanton hospital says it's not responsible for alleged botched surgery
The Stanton Territorial Health Authority said its hospital and employees are not responsible for allegedly severing a woman's femoral artery in 2016, according to court documents.
The woman is suing the health authority — now amalgamated with other regional authorities as the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority — and several doctors and nurses for allegedly operating on her major artery instead of a superficial vein in her leg, which she said left her permanently disabled.
According to court documents filed Jan. 22, Natasha Bursey states she went to Stanton Territorial Hospital to have a piece of the long saphenous vein in her right leg surgically removed on Aug. 18, 2016.
Instead, she said doctors mistakenly and unnecessarily tied off her femoral artery — which provides the main supply of blood flow to the leg.
Bursey said double bypass grafts later had to be surgically put on her artery. She said she is now permanently disabled, suffers from long-term nerve pain and has difficulty walking.
In its statement of defence filed last month, the Stanton Health Authority claims the three doctors who Bursey claims operated on her were not employees of the hospital but were "independent medical practitioners" using the hospital to see patients.
None of these allegations have been proven in court.
Bursey is asking for $310,000 in damages for loss of income and for her pain and suffering.
The three doctors named in the suit have yet to submit their defence.
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