A doctor and a district health board have been censured after a botched hysterectomy left a woman with a colostomy bag.
Details of the case were outlined in a report by the Health and Disability Commissioner, which ordered the doctor to apologise to the woman.
It also ordered that the competence of the doctor, who had left the country, be reviewed by the Medical Council if she returned to practise medicine in New Zealand.
The obstetrician and gynaecologist had performed a hysterectomy on a 46-year-old woman but, after she mistook the lining of the bowel for the uterus, a general surgeon had to be called.
The commissioner found the doctor's actions amounted to a serious departure from expected standards, and said the doctor failed to adequately tell the patient of the mistake.
The report also criticised the DHB for failing to connect other adverse events involving the doctor and ordered it to review its processes.
