Woman says surgical clip found inside her body has been there since 1997 operation - as she takes action against hospital

A woman who claims she has a metal surgical staple mistakenly left in body from a surgery more than 20 years ago is taking court action.

Rouba Naboulsi, 48, claims the small metal clip was forgotten by surgeons as they sewed her up after a routine gallbladder removal in 1997 at Auburn Hospital in Sydney's west.

The object remained undetected in her abdomen and eventually her rectum until an MRI in December 2020 that had to be aborted because of a metallic object, according to documents tendered to the NSW Supreme Court on Wednesday.

The respondents - the administrators of Auburn Hospital - say the clip could have been left in there from a series of C-section births rather than the 1997 surgery. 

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Ms Naboulsi said she began experiencing excruciating pain in her abdomen in 2003 but despite going to a number of doctors they were baffled by what the issue could be until her GP advised the MRI.   

'To this day I continue to experience pain in my lower right abdomen,' she wrote in her affidavit to the court.

'The pain prevents me from bending or kneeling to pray. Also, I cannot sit for extended periods of time.'

Ms Naboulsi also wrote that doctors advised her removing the clip will be difficult and would cost approximately $12,000.

She is suing Auburn Hospital administrators Western Sydney Local Health District for damages.

Surgeon Dr Peter Conrad also provided an affidavit stating he believed there was 'very clear evidence' a clip was lost during the 1997 procedure.

'A laparoscopic clip escaped from the applicator during the procedure, fell into the peritoneal cavity and was not retrieved by surgeons,' he wrote.

He filed exhibits demonstrating the same complication in other patients.

In response the Western Sydney Local Health District argued Ms Naboulsi had numerous C-section deliveries that also could have resulted in a clip being mistakenly left behind.

They also argued Ms Naboulsi had no independent 'support' for the clip having caused 'any injury of impairment' and given the amount of time that had passed since the 1997 gall bladder removal, there was no way of knowing which operation the clip related to. 

After hearing arguments Justice Monika Schmidt ruled in favour of the case proceeding to a trial.

The two parties were told to return with short submissions within 14 days.