Doctor Roman Hasil, a Czech gynecologist living and working in New Zealand, has resigned from his local District Health Board, after 6 of the 32 women he supposedly sterilized, reported new and unexpected pregnancies.
Dr. Hasil performed what is known as "key-hole" surgery, which involved placing metal clips on both
fallopian tubes in order to prevent the egg from reaching the womb and
being fertilized.
This kind of laparoscopic operation is
"the easiest operation in the world", he told the local newspaper, the Wanganui Chronicle.
But apparently, not easy enough. In February, a woman who had had the surgery but became pregnant came forward to the DHB, prompting an audit of the number of women who had been sterilized there, and how many had become pregnant from August 2005 to October 2006. Six have been found - so far.
One of Dr. Hasil's colleagues at the DHB says the failed surgeries show a lack of "proper supervision" (a requirement during the first 12 months foreign doctors work in New Zealand). But one of the doctor's former colleagues in the Czech Republic says it's not about supervision - he claims Dr. Hasil could not perform even the most basic procedures.
As the audits continue, the hospital admits it made "a major blunder," but since Dr. Hasil voluntarily resigned, no one is sure what action can be taken against him. A hospital spokeswoman says "really the whole focus of this has been the women."
