Dressings delay left maggots in patient's legs

A Wanganui rest home resident has complained to the Health and Disability Commissioner after bandages were left on her ulcered legs so long that maggots grew in the wounds.

Christine de Roo, 50, from Marton, but now living at Wanganui's Aubert Home of Compassion, said her dressings should have been changed two to three times a week but were left untouched for 13 days last month.

When the bandages were pulled back, her legs were crawling with maggots, she told the Wanganui Chronicle.

Ms de Roo is wheelchair-bound with multiple sclerosis and has serious kidney problems and lymphoedema.

The lymphoedema meant her legs were often swollen due to a build-up of fluid. Small cracks in her skin meant there was a high risk of infection and fluid leakage, requiring both legs to be bandaged from her knees to her feet.

Ms de Roo said her bandages were changed on March 8 but not again for almost another two weeks.

"I was left until March 21 ... it was a Saturday afternoon. By then my legs had become so itchy it was painful and I was desperate to have them done."

A nurse removed the bandage from one leg and discovered the maggots.

It was "the worst kind of nightmare anyone could ever have", she said.

Ms de Roo said she would never forget the look on the faces of the nurse and caregiver. They were in shock.

She said she felt shocked and reviled.

"I never thought I'd ever be fly-blown like an old sheep. There were dozens of them - it was revolting."

She demanded a specimen jar to scrape the maggots into. The bandages on her other leg were not changed until the next day. Maggots were found under them too, she said.

Ms de Roo has complained to the Health and Disability Commissioner and is now awaiting his report.

A Ministry of Health investigation and an internal investigation are also being undertaken. Home of Compassion nurse manager Ruth Portland told the Chronicle that she would not comment on Ms de Roo's case until the investigations were completed.

- NZPA