The coroner said its all to do with the surgery. whot should i do.?

Question

i spoke to the coroner dealing with my mums death he has said that the MASSIVE GASTROINTESTURNAL HEMORRHAGE & AORTOENTERIC FISTULA are all to do with the surgery for eosophogus cancer. should i get a solicitor to help me with this. he allso said that she would have lived for a year, if she hadnt had surgery.and is there any doctors out there that can tell me whot they would do if there patient coughed up big blood clots 2 weeks after this surgery would you just take blood, and if these came back fine would you do more tests to check that there was nothing eles going on. even if the person in question had , had a blood transfusion for the blood that was lost. surly vomiting up blood is not a good sign.

Answer 1

I am very sorry to hear about your loss. It must be very painful to find out it was related to the doctors who did the surgery. I am not a doctor so I can't answer any of your medical questions.

I live in the US and you probably live in the UK (since you used the word mum instead of mom). So the laws will be at least a little different between the 2 countries. To win a case in the US, you have to prove that doctors made MAJOR errors with a patient. If you see a doctor for a heart problem, for example, different doctors will prescribe different medications or treatments. You would have to prove that the doctor made serious mistakes with treating the patient to win the case. With surgery, you would have to prove that the doctors made serious errors during the surgery or after it to win the case.

It sounds like you should get medical records from the coroner and speak to a solicitor or barrister. If possible, try to see several solicitors to get different ideas about your case. Again, I am sorry for your loss and I wish you the best.

Answer 2

About the solicitors part: I'm nearly sure that no one would take the case, not because its lacks merit but because she had one year to live.....more to do with the damages achievable. As far as I know the formula is yearly earnings by expected life left in years. If you were 25 years old and earning 40,000 per year then you'd be looking at 1.6 million potential loss in earnings atleast but if she had only 1 year left to live then the potential damages awardable are low and if you lost your case you'd have to pay the doctors legal fees.

Its hard to know what use a coroners court is: in our country they can only bring in 4 verdicts anyhow and everything is death by misadventure.

I know it hurts.

Another way of looking at it is if the doctors were too afraid to do risky surgeries then everyone would be sent home without hope because they'd only do stuff with zero risk attached.

However, the point you're trying to formulate is really was her bleed avoidable i.e. did they investigate the coughing up blood well enough ? I don't know really. I guess they had to balance the risk of upsetting the healing of the wound site by endoscopy with the possibility something was leaking. Usually, when you bleed your haemoglobin goes down a good bit. This might have been the least invasive way they had of judging the significance of the clots. I'm not sure a lot would show up on an xray...they can see stuff like air under the diaphragm when ulcers bleed alright. Like I said in your other question, I expect that some sort of protocol exists for complications in this surgery and then you'd have to allow for the actual surgeon who did the surgery to apply his judgement because he might know how fragile her wound site was.

Its not fair. A lot of life is horrible really and its a very personal tragedy for you and your family. A sudden death is terribly disquiting too because it makes no sense - think of the effort you and your family were putting in to make her well and the effort she went to try and get well.I don't blame you asking questions and there is nothing abnormal about asking them. But don't let her last moments define her life or her relationship with you either or how you remember her. Try and remember all of her life and all the good she put into your life and her sacrifices to make sure you had a good chance in life. Don't just end up bitter or unable to cope in life because of how she died tragically. All the sacrifices she made as a mother for you would be in vain if you withdrew from life and became bitter. There's no real answer only time...time to figure it all out what went wrong and time to figure out how to live with the hurt so it doesn't capsize you:(

Answer 3

I'm sorry that you lost your Mother. She must have been in a lot of pain to undergo the surgery. Cancer is a very painful disease. It sounds like your Mother's cancer had metastasized.

No doctor can tell you how long you have to live if you have Metastatic Cancer, they can only give you a rough idea.

If you retain a solicitor, I doubt he will have a very good case. A solicitor will tell you anything you want to hear if he knows he's getting paid for it. IF your solicitor is not going to charge you (take your case on contingency), then let him proceed with legal action.

Any patient with metastatic cancer, will do anything (including the surgery your Mother had), to try to live longer and HOPE that the doctors can get all the cancer excised. The patient knows there is a risk of death, prior to the surgery. Sometimes when a patient is opened up for surgery and then closed up, it just speeds the death along and it sounds like this is what happened.

Your Mother is at peace now, and no longer in any pain. It is sad to see the people we love suffer.

Read the following on metastatic cancer to help you understand it:

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/facts...

Also, read this:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/5589...

Generally 2 types of secondary aortoenteric fistula have been described. Type 1, termed a true aortoenteric fistula or graft enteric fistula, with or without a pseudoaneurysm, develops between the proximal aortic suture line and the bowel. This type of fistula is the most common and often initiates massive gastrointestinal hemorrhage. The main clinical manifestation of this type is always upper gastrointestinal bleeding (76%), which might be either hematemesis or melena with equal frequency. Sepsis and abdominal pain are relatively rare with this type of fistula. The present case appearing 6 years after aortic surgery was of this type.

Answer 4

Did the coroner say it was due to any negligence during the operation? If he believed so, he is obliged to notify the General Medical Council, who would proceed with a 'fitness to practice' investigation.

Basically, you need to understand that, just because your mother died from a complication with the surgery, it does not necessarily mean the doctor's were negligent. No surgery is risk free, when your mother agreed to have this operation, she would have been told the risks and chances of success. So when she consented, she decided it was better to take the gamble of further treatment, than just giving up.

I think getting lawyers involved will not yield any results for you, it is best to grieve for your mother and let her rest in peace.