Medical Negligence Lawyer Demands Answers After Doctors Failed To Diagnose Bowel Obstruction
20/07/2011
An inquest has heard how hospital staff failed to spot post-operative complications following knee replacement surgery, leading to a 68-year-old man dying from a bowel obstruction.
HM Assistant Deputy Coroner for Staffordshire, Louise McCabe, heard how the family of Barry Harris from Burntwood, Staffordshire, had repeatedly raised concerns about his state of health with nursing staff and doctors. But despite suffering from a swollen stomach and having had no bowel movement within the nine days after surgery, Mr Harris was discharged from Burton Hospital.
Doctors had told his wife that his condition would improve naturally but he collapsed at home on the October, 23rd 2010, just three days after being discharged. Despite the efforts of emergency paramedics, he could not be resuscitated.
A former civil engineer, Barry Harris, who was married with three sons and one grandson, had been admitted to Burton Hospital on October 11th 2010 for a total knee replacement. The operation was a success but the inquest heard that two days later, Mr Harris expressed concern that his stomach seemed swollen and he had not yet had a bowel movement. Although he was eating food, he did not have much of an appetite.
Over the following days, Mr Harris suffered significant discomfort from his stomach and although he was given medication for constipation, underwent an enema and a CT scan, his stomach remained swollen. On 20th October 2010, Mr Harris underwent a further investigative procedure but no obstruction was detected and the decision was made to discharge him later that afternoon.
The inquest recorded that Mr Harris died of natural causes but now Laura Daly, a medical negligence solicitor from Irwin Mitchell, has called on the hospital to establish why staff failed to diagnose Mr Harris’s bowel obstruction.
Laura Daly from Irwin Mitchell, who represents the family and is taking separate civil action on their behalf, explained: “Barry’s care at Burton Hospital raises a number of urgent questions.
“After undergoing a major operation, one of the most basic aspects of nursing care is to ensure that a patient has had a bowel movement before being discharged home.
“The fact that Barry was sent home, when it was clear that he had been having difficulties for nine days, is of particular concern. Medical and nursing staff carried out a number of treatments and procedures but, having failed to diagnose his condition, inexplicably, decided to discharge him.
“The family is very concerned that Barry’s CT scan has since been found to have shown a grossly distended bowel. However further treatment was not offered. They also cannot understand why he was kept on the orthopaedic ward, rather than being transferred to a medical ward for his condition to be investigated further.
“Following the conclusion of today’s inquest, the family will be taking separate civil action as they are anxious to know if these missed opportunities which they feel amounted to substandard care, played a part in his untimely and tragic death.”
Mr Harris’s widow, Valerie, 68, commented: “The entire family has been devastated by what has happened. Barry was the centre of our family and I cannot come to terms with the way he died. I have lost a husband and my sons, Mark, Steven and Carl and grandson, Austin has lost a much loved father and granddad.
“Barry and I had been married for 46 years and had recently been building our dream home in South Carolina, America. My brother Stewart and our sons Mark and Steven live out there and we wanted to be able to spend the rest of our retirement together being able to visit them as often as we liked.
“I’m so angry about the care Barry received. He put his trust in those doctors and they let him down very badly. I just hope the Trust will now look at what went wrong and take action to make sure another tragedy like this doesn’t happen to another family.”
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