Plate-sized surgical tool left in NZ woman's abdomen

WELLINGTON, Sept 05 (BBC): A device "the size of a dinner plate" was left in the abdomen of a woman in New Zealand after she gave birth via a Caesarean in an Auckland hospital. The Alexis wound retractor - a soft tubal instrument used to hold open surgical wounds - was only removed 18 months after her delivery.

During this time, the woman endured severe pains and made several doctor trips before it was found on a CT scan. Health regulators said the public hospital system had failed the patient.

Initially, district health authorities Te Whatu Ora Auckland had argued that they had not failed to exercise reasonable care and skill. But New Zealand's Health and Disability Commissioner disagreed, in findings released on Monday.

"It is self-evident that the care provided fell below the appropriate standard, because the [retractor] was not identified during any routine surgical checks, resulting in it being left inside the woman's abdomen," Morag McDowell said.

"Staff involved have no explanation for how the retractor ended up in the abdominal cavity, or why it was not identified prior to closure," she said.

The Alexis wound retractor is a large object made of transparent plastic fixed on two rings. Typically it is removed after the uterine incision is closed in a C-section operation and before the skin is stitched up.

Because it is a "non radio-opaque" item, it could not be detected in X-ray scans. The team at the Auckland City Hospital that had attended to the woman had replaced the first Alexis wound retractor they used with a larger one. It was this second retractor that was left in the woman's abdomen.