‘Are we going to leave patients to suffer because of the five to 15 per cent chance that something will go wrong?’
A DOCTOR is set to appeal a Nicosia court decision which ruled that he was guilty of medical negligence following a procedure to remove bunions from a woman’s feet.
Fellow colleagues however, have hit back at the ruling, which was conveyed last Monday.
The Nicosia District Court found Dr. Alkis Lapithis guilty of medical negligence which resulted in the joint of a woman’s big toe on her right foot being damaged.
The hospital, which the plaintiff had also sued, was found not guilty.
The plaintiff went for bunion surgery on both her feet on August 25, 1999 to specialist orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Lapithis at a private hospital in Nicosia.
Whereas the surgery on her left foot was successful, a procedure on her right foot was not.
She consequently proceeded to visit a hospital in Israel which then rectified the damage.
In his 48-page ruling, Judge Phivos Zomeni writes that, “a review of the evidence as a whole, leads to the conclusion that Dr. Lapithis had, during the removal of the bunion, removed part of the joint surface from the head of the first metatarsal.
“As a result, the functioning of the joint has been affected. This action constitutes negligence on behalf of the defendant.”
During the course of the hearings, Lapithis argued that he had done nothing wrong during the surgery, and tried to prove it via reference to medical literature.
However, the Court dismissed this line of argument because the medical literature he was citing from was in fact referring to a different procedure altogether.
“The procedure was perfect,” Lapithis told the Mail.
“I corrected the deformity and, seven years after, the deformity has not reappeared and the patient is not suffering form arthritis.”
Lapithis explained that sometimes, a patient’s expectations concerning the results of surgeries are higher than what they should be.
“When somebody undergoes bunion surgery, he or she cannot expect that they will be the same afterwards as someone who does not have any problems.
“They can only expect that the existing problem will go away and that they will feel substantially better.”
The doctor added that about 70 per cent of patients say they are satisfied with the results.
Lapithis also emphasised the routine nature of bunion surgery: “The time it takes to operate on each foot is between 20 minutes and one hour. In this particular case, it only took me 20 minutes.”
Two colleagues of the defendant and an associate professor of orthopaedics also testified on his behalf.
Nonetheless, the Court rejected the testimonies as being unreliable.
Specifically, it perceived the testimony of one of Lapithis’ colleagues, Dr George Shiamishis, as an attempt to hoodwink the Court.
“Both from the content of the testimony and the awkward way in which he [Shiamishis] testified, [the Court avers that] he did not testify with utter honesty but instead tried to present the facts in such a manner that would aid the side which summoned him to testify. This is unfortunate.”
Speaking to the Mail, Dr. Shamishis, who is also a specialist orthopaedic surgeon, stated: “I stand by my testimony, regardless of what the judge may have ruled.”
He added that surgeries of this type are 85 to 95 per cent successful.
“Are we not going to operate on people? Are we going to leave them to suffer because of the five to 15 per cent chance that something will go wrong?”
Shiamishis also said that in the cases where something did go wrong, “corrective surgery is possible and usually resolves the problem.”
In its ruling, the Court decided to award €9,500 in reparations to the plaintiff, a figure which has since almost doubled due to accrued interest from 1999.
In tandem, the Court decided that $3,895 in travel expenses be paid to the Israeli surgeon who came to Cyprus to testify,
