A patient safety review is underway after a 48-year-old man went in for an amputation of his right leg at Grace Hospital, but came out of the procedure to find out his left leg below his knee had been removed.
Jason Kennedy, a former commercial fisher, knows he may eventually lose both legs but he said his right foot was in worse condition due to a bone infection he lives with and that’s the one his doctor at a different hospital told him would have to be amputated.
“Coming out of anesthesia and when I woke up from my bed, my recovery area, I was in disbelief. Disbelief that they took the wrong leg,” Kennedy said. “I knew for a fact they did take the wrong leg.”
Kennedy, who has been living in Winnipeg but is originally from Bloodvein First Nation, said he went to Seven Oaks General Hospital on Oct. 23 because of pain and bleeding in his right foot. He said the amputation at Grace Hospital was ordered on Oct. 28 and took place Oct. 31.
Kennedy said he was taken from Seven Oaks to the Grace before 7 a.m. that morning. He said it wasn’t until after the amputation that he found out his leg left was removed.
“I was just wondering if this was a bad dream,” Kennedy said. “The pain is still in my [right] foot and it’s there right now as we speak.”
A spokesperson for the Winnipeg Regional Healthy Authority said in an emailed statement patient confidentiality limits the amount of information it can provide “in this complex clinical situation.”
“We are aware of the incident and the distress it has caused the patient, their family and the care providers,” the spokesperson 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 our patient safety team to identify potential system learning opportunities. The results of this review will be shared with the patient once complete.”
Kennedy said his surgeon and “two other colleagues” apologized to him.
‘This can’t be happening’
He said he is speaking out to prevent this from happening to someone else, but he’s already accepted the fact his left leg is gone and is offering his forgiveness.
“I knew right away it was my left leg that was gone and I thought, ‘this can’t be happening,'” Kennedy said.
“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, who also lives with diabetes, said he was first given antibiotics at Seven Oaks to help fight the infection and that he could still wiggle his toes on his left foot and the swelling was going down.
“I was telling them, it’s actually getting better,” Kennedy said. “And it’s way better than my right foot because I can’t even wiggle my toes on this one.”
His right foot, meanwhile, was in worse shape, Kennedy said.
“Obviously it was the right foot that needs to be off because I know which leg is by far the worst pain,” he said.
He acknowledged his left foot had blood and puss coming out of it as well.
Kennedy said he was told if the antibiotics didn’t work, he could lose both legs and if they didn’t work to save his right foot, he could lose that leg, too.
Yvonne Young, Kennedy’s mom, travelled from out of town to visit him at Seven Oaks after the amputation. But it wasn’t until after she returned home to Waterhen, Man., that he told her what happened with his leg.
“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 said.
Young said she’s proud of her son for offering forgiveness, but she believes there should be responsibility taken for what happened.
“He needs to be compensated for what has happened to him,” Young said. “That is wrong.”
She said he should be given prosthetics to help him carry on with his life.
Young said he had been homeless for a few years until January 2023, when he found a place. But now with one leg gone and another one in bad shape, he’s worried what the future holds.
“I gotta live with that,” he said. “And it’s life-changing for me because I was always on my feet, I was always doing something.”
A patient safety review is underway after 48-year-old Jason Kennedy says he went in for an amputation of his right leg at Winnipeg’s Grace Hospital, but came out of the procedure to find out his left leg below his knee had been removed.