In a report by the Health and Disability Commissioner, Anthony Hill investigated why a surgeon operated on a woman to remove gallbladder which he had already removed a few years ago.

The doctor operated the woman in order to remove her gallbladder this year when he already removed it 14 years ago in 1996.

During preoperative assessment in 2009, the surgeon asked for an abdominal CT scan and the scan showed that there was no gallbladder. But, the surgeon did not make a connection between the patient and the results.

The report said that while the surgery was on, the surgeon removed a part of a duct where the gallbladder which he thought was a shrunken gallbladder.

After surgery, the woman was subjected to radiological examination which showed that the surgeon had made a mistake. The woman was immediately shifted to another hospital where a hepatobiliary and general surgeon did the needful.

The report also said that the rights of the patient had been violated.

However, the doctor says that he had spent a long time trying to make sure that she understood what laparoscopic cholecystectomy was. He also said that he made sure that he told the woman, in the simplest possible way that the surgery was going to be with a telescope to remove the gallbladder.

The woman says that she was sure that she told the doctor that she had this procedure before. She also said that with all the surgeries she had she got confused about whether she had the surgery for the removal of gallbladder stone or to have the gallbladder removed.

The surgeon will be referred to the Director of Proceedings in accordance with section 45(2) (f) of the Health and Disability Commissioner Act 1994 to decide whether any proceedings should, be taken against the doctor or not.