She's living with a needle left in her spine, yet no one will tell her which doctor did it
CBC
Giovanna Ippolito is living with a broken needle in her spine after it broke off during childbirth. An anesthesiologist then left the four centimetre-long fragment embedded in her back — and didn't tell her what happened.
Instead, it was discovered during an X-ray more than a decade later. The Bolton, Ont., woman says her doctor can't directly link the pain she's experiencing to the needle, but one thing has been made clear to her: it's not safe to remove it.
The location and the scar tissue that has grown around the needle make it too dangerous.
Exactly when the needle was left there is unclear because medical staff failed to note it in her records — but Ippolito says she's only had needles inserted into her back on two occasions — during the birth of her son in 2002 and her daughter in 2004.
She says for years she's been living with pain in her shoulders and right leg.
Both births took place at Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital (called York Central Hospital at the time), north of Toronto.
After botched investigations and many years, no one may ever be held accountable.
"It infuriates me. The pain is here to stay," Ippolito told Go Public. "Somebody made a mistake many years ago… now they need to be accountable for it."
Go Public first told Ippolito's story in 2020. Since then, she is no closer to finding out who did it — despite pursuing almost every complaint avenue available to patients injured by the medical system.
Last year, nearly 175,000 patients suffered potentially preventable medical harm while in hospital, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI).
That number has increased over the past three years from 168,000 in 2022 and 157,000 the year before that.
Like Ippolito, patients who file complaints after being hurt by the medical system are often left "in the dark about what happened to them," said Toronto-based medical malpractice lawyer Jeremy Syrtash.
He is not directly involved in Ippolito's complaint.
"I've seen this many times," said Syrtash. "A patient will come to me and say harm happened, I will get the medical records and there would be no documentation to confirm that… and because they didn't document that error, [patients are] told, 'Oh, well, you know, there's nothing we can do.'"
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