BURST
A Keremeos man who had his leg amputated after his condition was misdiagnosed during repeated visits to a hospital emergency department over several months is suing for negligence.
The lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court against the Interior Health authority and its staff alleges if the two doctors and the nurse who treated the man for foot pain beginning in April 2024 had investigated properly or had called in a specialist, his blocked artery would have been detected.
“The limb could have been salvaged.”
Steven Barker, a heavy equipment operator, visited the ER at South Similkameen Health Centre on April 2, 2024, with “reduced function, skin blistering, redness and black spots on multiple toes,” the lawsuit said.
“He struggled to bear weight on his right foot and was hobbling on his right heel due to pain. He was leaning on his four-year-old daughter’s shoulder for balance and support,” it said.
Dr. Ifeju Olugbenga Omojuwa diagnosed frostbite or gout, the lawsuit said.
“Frostbite was highly implausible for a housed person in Keremeos in April,” the lawsuit said.
His symptoms were “inconsistent” with gout and resembled poor circulation, but Omojuwa didn’t investigate causes.
Neither did the doctor use a hand-held device commonly available in emergency rooms to measure the pulse in his arteries, and “had he done so, he would have detected absent or significantly diminished” blood flow.
He didn’t consult with specialists nor did he order lab work, medical imaging or an electrocardiogram, according to the lawsuit.
Barker was sent home with a prescription for Tylenol 3 and pills for treating gout.
Had the doctor properly investigated or contacted a specialist, he would have known that if left untreated his condition “could result in tissue death requiring amputation,” the lawsuit alleged.
Barker returned to the same hospital on May 10, 2024, with “worsening pain and visible deterioration of his right foot and leg,” including visible signs of necrosis and/or gangrene, and the foot being numb and cool, said the lawsuit.
He was seen by Dr. David Wallace Van de Vosse, who noted what had been a black dot on the bottom of his big toe had become an open ulcer. That doctor also didn’t investigate the cause or consider vascular causes, nor did he measure blood flow, order lab tests or consult specialists.
He wrote prescriptions for two antibiotics and told him to make an appointment with the wound-care clinic at the hospital, the lawsuit said.
Three months after Barker’s first trip to the ER, he was treated again by Van de Vosse on July 2, 2024, when his symptoms included tingling, numbness, weakness, cramping and pain in his right leg from his hip to his foot. He was diagnosed with back pain and asked if he suffered from sciatica, it said.
Van de Vosse again didn’t test his blood flow, order tests or consult specialists.
Barker went to the wound-care clinic from March to August 2024, and “Nurse Doe No. 1″ examined Barker and the “obvious progressive deterioration” of his right foot, but she didn’t report it to a doctor or refer him to a doctor, according to the lawsuit.
Neither did the nurse note the deterioration in Barker’s medical file.
When Barker returned to emergency on Aug. 12, 2024, still complaining of severe pain, his right foot was pale and cold. This time Van de Vosse called a vascular specialist.
Barker was taken to Penticton Regional Hospital, where a CT scan revealed a blocked artery, and then transferred to Kelowna General Hospital for vascular surgery the next day, according to the lawsuit.
But by then, the damage was irreversible and the tissue was “no longer viable,” and Barker’s leg was amputated above the knee.
Barker is seeking damages for the loss of his leg, chronic phantom and residual limb pain, nerve pain, depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress.
The injuries have and will continue to cause him suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, permanent physical disability and loss of earning capacity, according to the lawsuit.
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
Barker’s lawyer declined to comment and Interior Health did not respond to a request for comment.