The Capital & Coast District Health Board and one of its surgeons has been criticised for numerous failures that led to a woman losing vision and mobility as a result of gastric bypass surgery.
The woman was prescribed multivitamins by the surgeon in 2008 in order to reduce vitamin deficiency as a result of the restricted diet gastric bypass patients endure.
Health and Disability Commissioner Anthony Hill says the woman was admitted to hospital nine times in subsequent weeks with symptoms including abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting but wasn't prescribed multivitamins.
It wasn't until she returned a 10th time complaining of blurry vision that a review indicated a thiamine, or vitamin B1, deficiency that resulted in her sight and mobility being permanently affected.
