Families ask why B.C. surgeon still allowed to see patients after string of negligence claims – CBC

Dr. Tracy Hicks has been the subject of several court findings for causing harm to patients

Mar 30, 2023

It was just a broken arm. Countless five-year-olds have had one, and in most cases, they recover just fine after a few uncomfortable weeks in a cast or splint.

But when Max McKee broke his arm falling from a kitchen cabinet in 2006, that didn’t happen. His fracture was treated at B.C.’s Langley Memorial Hospital by orthopedic surgeon Dr. Tracy Eugene Hicks, who didn’t set the bones properly before placing them in a cast, leaving McKee with a lifelong deformity, according to a court judgment.

Now 21, when McKee holds his right arm out to the side, his forearm hangs downward from the elbow at an awkward angle, causing him regular pain and years of self-consciousness as a teenager.

“The job I’m working right now, as an electrician, I’m constantly twisting my arm, screwing in lightbulbs — anything using a screwdriver, it’s uncomfortable, and on a daily basis,” he told CBC.

“There’s nothing I can do about it. I can’t fix it.”

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-tracy-hicks-negligence-1.6794142