A widower from Northampton has been paid £150,000 in damages after his wife died following a routine hernia operation.
Helen Blyth, aged 79, had the operation on March 2, 2010 at Northampton General Hospital but died there the next day.
Solicitors for her husband, Sydney, found the surgeon, David Cubbon Hunter, had used a metal clip in the surgery that its manufacturer warned should not be used when operating on someone with Mrs Blyth’s type of hernia.
The claim against NGH has been admitted by the hospital and a settlement has now been reached totalling £150,000 plus legal costs.
Mrs Blyth’s family also made a separate complaint to the General Medical Council, which issued Mr Hunter, who still works at NGH as well as the Three Shires Hospital, with a warning because his behaviour “did not meet with the standards required of a doctor”. The warning will be published on the List of Registered Medical Practitioners for five years.
Louise Tyler, a specialist clinical negligence solicitor at QualitySolicitors Wilson Browne, who handled the case for Mrs Blyth’s family, said: “What was difficult about this case was the fact that when the family first instructed, they had had every sympathy with Mr David Cubbon Hunter who had met with them and explained in all his years he had never seen a case like this.
“Once our investigations were uncovered the family were naturally devastated as it become clear that the consultant’s actions had clearly caused Mrs Blyth’s death.”
Mrs Blyth had a hiatus hernia, which usually means part of the stomach has squeezed through an opening in the diaphragm, which is the sheet of muscle that covers the stomach, and into the chest.
In 2009 Mrs Blyth complained of breathlessness and a large hiatus hernia was discovered behind her heart border.
At about 8pm on March 2, 2010, following her surgery, her blood pressure fell and at 1am on March 3 she was found to be unresponsive and a cardiac arrest call was put out. She died at 1.55am aged 79.
At an inquest into Mrs Blyth’s death held on September 1, 2010 Mr Hunter said Mrs Blyth had died as a result of an extremely rare complication following surgery.
Still concerned that his wife’s death had followed what is usually routine surgery, Mr Blyth went to the solicitors, whose expert found Mr Hunter had secured the mesh to Mrs Blyth’s diaphragm with the use of Pro Tack staples.
He had failed to document this in the operation note and the manufacturer’s advice also said the Pro Tack staples should not be used in cases where the hiatus hernia was in the diaphragm.
The solicitors allege Mr Hunter either knew this and failed to adhere to the manufacturer’s warnings or he was not aware, and was negligent either way.
The General Medical Council panel said Mr Hunter’s behaviour “risks bringing the profession into disrepute and it must not be repeated.”
Dr Sonia Swart, Northampton General Hospital’s medical director, said: “We have previously offered our sincere apologies to Mr Blyth when the failing was first identified, and we repeat that apology today.
“We are very sorry that the standard of care provided to Mrs Blyth was below what she was entitled to expect.
“The events that led to Mrs Blyth’s death were very complex, and a number of lessons have been learned by the trust as part of a thorough review of our procedures.
“The General Medical Council have also looked at the case and have raised no concerns about our surgeon’s fitness to practice as they are entitled to do, and he continues to be employed by the trust.”
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