Hospital, patient locked in amputation row

Did the Kakamega County Teaching and Referral hospital amputate the lower limb instead of the toes? Patient Antony Imbenzi insists it happened. The hospital says his story is misleading.

In a rejoinder, the hospital’s medical superintendent, Dr Boniface Nyumbile, confirms that the patient was admitted to the facility in critical condition and signed the requisite papers before the operation.

Back to Imbenzi, he was on his way home in Kakamega town from work when a tuktuk hit him.

He would later realise that public-spirited Kenyans rushed him to Kakamega County Teaching and Referral Hospital.

“I gained consciousness the following day in the morning… It dawned on me that my right foot and toes were badly damaged…medics recommended an amputation to save my life,” he recalls.

A doctor explained to him that failure to amputate meant there would be not enough blood flow in the leg which would result in less oxygen and nutrients and therefore the death of affected tissues and infection.

Antony Imbenzi is demanding answers from Kakamega County Teaching and Referral Hospital which says his surgery was done according to the procedure.  [Benjamin Sakwa, Standard]

 On the third day, Imbenzi, 29, says he was booked for surgery after forking out Sh1,200.

The operation would be carried out after 48 hours.

The father of three was also required to pay Sh10,000 as theatre fee.

 While his family was looking for the money, he says he was informed that he was scheduled for an operation on January 30, just 24 hours later, he recalls.

"I told them that I didn't have the money for the operation but the medics said I must be operated on," alleges Imbenzi.

 “In the morning one of the doctors asked me if had had breakfast and I said yes, my answer angered him.

“He told me not to eat anything, as I was destined for an operation in the afternoon. I told him my operation was due the following day but he insisted that it had to be done that day,” recalls Imbenzi.

In the afternoon, he was wheeled to the theatre.

At the theatre, a Cuban doctor carried out the procedure with the help of several nurses.

“We had agreed the medics would amputate only amputate the foot, which had started rotting away. But when I woke up, I discovered that they had amputated half of my leg leaving me with a permanent disability,” says Imbenzi.

 In fact, I did not sign the consent form and none of my family members signed it before the procedure was carried out,” he says.

Wonder of wonders, Imbenzi says he doesn’t know who paid the Sh10, 000 that was required before the operation could be done. The Sh10,000 was not included in the bill when he was discharged, he claims.

After a week, he calls paying a bill of Sh28,790 before he was discharged but says he was not given a discharge summary from the referral facility as well as the clinic attendance book.

He is now demanding answers from the hospital and wants his leg back.

His brother, Julius Imbenzi, is also livid.

"It’s me who went to look for the money and when the operation was done, we were still fundraising from within our family members," said Julius.

According to Julius, if the hospital will not give them satisfactory answers on the “wrong” amputation, they will sue for compensation.