Elderly woman dies following alleged clinical negligence

Posted 29/03/2010

An Essex family may be eligible to make a compensation claim for clinical negligence after an elderly woman died because of a surgical swab left inside her.

Iris Cole, 79, was admitted to Southend Hospital in August 2007 in order to have surgery on her appendix and gall bladder.

However, after she was discharged, she continued to suffer severe abdominal pain. In May 2008, the pensioner was readmitted to hospital and an X-ray revealed that a piece of gauze had been left in her abdominal cavity, resulting in an infected abscess.

Despite further surgery to remove it, Ms Cole never recovered and she died in January 2009.

An inquest heard from a pathologist who said it was likely that the elderly lady’s death came as a result of the operating equipment being left in situ.

Ms Cole’s daughter Christine Grindrod said what happened is “an absolute disgrace”.

“It can’t be that hard to count the number of swabs used in an operation,” she added.

According to a recent independent survey carried out by the Sun, a total of 722 objects were left inside patients after operations in 2008, including pliers, scalpels and swabs.

Sandra Patton, a clinical negligence specialist at Ashtons Legal, added: “It is tragic that such errors are still happening and having such devastating consequences.

“Often we see poor outcomes as a result of a difference in approach to a medical condition or a judgement call that leads to injury, but where it is a failure to follow basic rules and common sense it goes to the heart of the adequacy of the systems and checks that are designed to keep patients safe”.