Man wakes up in hospital to search out surgeons eliminated the flawed leg in enormous blunder

A man was left in shock after waking up from surgery to find that surgeons had mistakenly amputated the wrong leg. Jason Kennedy, 48, a former commercial fisherman, had gone to Grace Hospital in Manitoba, Canada, for a scheduled operation to remove his right leg due to a severe bone infection.

Kennedy, who hails from Bloodvein First Nation but now resides in Winnipeg, the capital of Manitoba, initially visited Seven Oaks General Hospital on October 23 due to pain and bleeding in his right foot. The decision to amputate at Grace Hospital was made on October 28, with the procedure taking place on October 31.

It was only after the operation that he discovered his left leg had been removed. He said: “I was just wondering if this was a bad dream. The pain is still in my [right] foot and it’s there right now as we speak,” reports the Mirror.

A representative for the Winnipeg Regional Healthy Authority stated that due to patient confidentiality, they can only provide limited information “in this complex clinical situation”.

The spokesperson acknowledged the distress caused by the incident to the patient, their family and the care providers. They said: “Members of the care team have personally met with the patient to offer their sincere apologies and to discuss next steps.”

The incident is currently under review by their patient safety team to identify potential system learning opportunities. The results of this review will be shared with the patient once complete. Kennedy revealed he received an apology from his surgeon and “two other colleagues”.

He is now speaking out to raise awareness on the issue and has accepted that his left leg is gone. He said: “I knew right away it was my left leg that was gone and I thought, ‘this can’t be happening’.”

He added: “All I could do was think, ‘why is this happening to me?’ I was under the impression it was going to be my right leg because that’s where the worst pain is. And my first thoughts were forgiveness is in my mind, I could forgive a person easily because I learned from my family like my mom and my dad and my grandma. I learned from them how forgiveness is important.”

Kennedy’s mum Yvonne had travelled from afar to be by her son’s side after his amputation, but it wasn’t until she got back home to Waterhen, Manitoba, that he dropped a bombshell. She recounted: “He said, ‘mom, there’s something I need to tell you.’ He said, ‘I didn’t want to tell you when you had to travel home.’ He said, ‘they cut off the wrong leg,'” Young revealed.

Despite Mrs Young’s pride in her son for showing forgiveness, she insists that accountability is critical. “He needs to be compensated for what has happened to him,” Young firmly stated. “That is wrong.”

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