A WOMAN who claims she woke up from an operation to find that an extra procedure had been carried out without her consent is to sue York Hospital NHS Trust for alleged clinical negligence.

Linda Mayes, 57, says she has to walk with a stick after both her big toe joints were fused, despite her only consenting to the irreversible operation on her right big toe.

Mrs Mayes agreed to have the right joint fused - creating a solid bone that cannot bend - in order to ease pain and stiffness from an earlier break in the bone.

She was also due to have a minor operation on the third toe of her left foot.

However, when she came round from the anaesthetic, following the operation in May 2000, she says she discovered a big bandage on her right big toe, as expected, but also on her left big toe.

Mrs Mayes, of Barlby, near Selby, denied that she had verbally consented to the procedure outside the theatre and claimed that she had subsequently signed a consent form while she was drowsy after the operation.

At that stage, she believed she had merely had a bunion on her left foot treated, and she continued to think for the following six weeks.

"With a fusion you have a pot on for ten to 12 weeks, and for a bunion it's on for six. It was only after six weeks, when they didn't take the pot off, that I realised they had done the fusion."

Mrs Mayes, who manages the cleaning operations for Norwich Union sites in York, said she would have needed the bunion on her left foot treated at some point, but that a different operation would have been more suitable.

She said: "I can't kneel now, I can't walk on anything that's got a camber. It took me 15 months to walk without being in severe pain.

"I used to be a fit person, I would walk for pleasure, I've got dogs that I walked. It's changed my life totally."

Stuart Hanley, solicitor for Langleys which is handling the case, said the York Trust had admitted in writing that the left-sided fusion was carried out without consent.

However, Mrs Mayes's case was also that the left-sided fusion was carried out negligently, therefore causing her the severe problems she now suffers.

A spokesman for the York Trust said: "The trust cannot disclose any information regarding the matter as it is still in the process of litigation."

Updated: 09:57 Saturday, September 13, 2003