A gran had her left leg amputated and later died after a doctor “butchered” her foot – after she attended hospital for a routine scan of a suspected cyst. Erna McGuinness went to her annual scan at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow, in August 2020.
But daughter Eileen McGuinness, 36, claims a doctor there refused to do the scan, instead conducting a procedure to remove the mass with scissors that were “not clean”. She said Erna was left with a gaping open wound which was just bandaged and by 2pm the same day she went into septic shock and was rushed back to hospital in an ambulance.
There Erna had to have her left leg amputated due to the infection. The family sought legal action in September 2021 but after delays the NHS offered to settle the case outside of court for a five-figure sum – which Eileen accepted in November 2025.
View 6 ImagesErna following the operation to amputate her leg.(Image: Eileen McGuinness / SWNS)
Sadly, Erna was left bed bound after her amputation and after her “lifestyle declined” as a result, she died in January 2022 aged 67. The doctor is no longer employed by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
Eileen, who is taking some time out from work due to the stress of case, from Glasgow, said: “I don’t know if she was the first person to be wronged by this person. I still see that picture of her foot after it happened when I go to bed at night.
“They actually nearly killed the woman. She said to me ‘make sure they don’t get away with what happens to me’.
“I wanted to be mum’s voice, but I was under so much pressure. She was only going into hospital for her foot to be looked at on a scan.
“They went in with a pair of scissors that were not clean. They were like the wee ones you use to cut nose hair with.
“They left mum’s foot with a very massive open wound that even if you were in reasonable health you would suffer with. They took mum into hospital with septic shock and in resus the surgeon came around – a different surgeon – and said we can take her leg but she might not make it through surgery and if we treat her with antibiotics she will not make it after a couple of days.
“They had to take her leg, and it spiralled from there.”
View 6 ImagesErna in hospital.(Image: Eileen McGuinness / SWNS)
View 6 ImagesErna’s foot following the botched surgery.(Image: Eileen McGuinness / SWNS)
Eileen said Erna had pleaded to stop the procedure – which she claims was done without anaesthetic. “She said ‘that’s sore’ and ‘you’re hurting me’ but they continued to do what they were doing,” Eileen told Sell Us Your Story.
“I got on the phone to them the following day. They said they’d do the exact same thing again.
“They played God. Mum had COPD but apart from that was going to bingo every night, loved her grandchildren and was the happiest woman ever.
“It killed her in the end – it destroyed her. It was the mentality of going from being an independent woman who was so free, cooking her own meals to where she couldn’t do a thing for sure that affected her.
“She had everybody over – this woman used to host Christmas for 27 people, made the best lunches and dinners and everyone was always welcome for food in her house. When her leg went her whole mental state went.
“The things I read in the report, I didn’t realise how low she was at the time. She basically wanted to end her life because she couldn’t live in the pain and misery she was in”.
View 6 ImagesErna McGuinness had her leg amputated after a procedure to remove a suspected cyst.(Image: Eileen McGuinness / SWNS)
Eileen says the legal case should have gone to the high court in March 2025 but says it was delayed by the NHS as they were “dragging their heels”. The case was rescheduled to go through high court in May 2026, but in November 2025 the NHS offered to settle outside of court.
After six years of back and forth and feeling “traumatised” by the ordeal, Eileen agreed to the five-figure settlement. “I was so tired after six years of back and forward I couldn’t do it any longer,” Eileen says.
“I don’t know how they got away with it for so long. I would love mum’s story to be told as not another name in their victim list but for people to remember her name.
“She always said ‘if god forbid anything happens to me, let my story be told and don’t let them get away with anything they did’. What they did was inhuman and cruel, they hurt somebody who would have held out her hand and helped them”.
View 6 ImagesErna with her grandson.(Image: Eileen McGuinness / SWNS)
A spokesperson for NHSGGC said: “While we cannot comment on the details of any patient’s care, our sympathies remain with the family of Erna McGuinness. We recognise the care Erna received was not what should have been expected, and we are deeply sorry for her experience and the impact this had.
“This case was the subject of legal proceedings, which have now concluded.”
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