Rhyl widow compensated after husband's hernia death

Sep 30 2008 By Kelly Fenna

THE WIDOW of a postman who died after a straightforward operation to remove a hernia says no amount of money could make up for losing her "best friend".

Yvonne Clarke spoke after she was awarded thousands of pounds in compensation for the death of her husband, Melvyn.

Mr Clarke, 61, of Greenfield Street, Rhyl, died nearly two weeks after he had routine surgery to remove a double hernia in his groin at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd.

He was discharged the next day, on October 28, 2005, but soon began feeling unwell and went back to his GP complaining of severe vomiting and stomach pains.

But the GP failed to refer Mr Clarke to a specialist and he was not re-admitted to hospital until November 2.

Doctors performed further surgery, but he died in the intensive therapy unit, on November 7.

Solicitors said if the GP had referred Mr Clarke to specialists earlier, he could have been saved.

This week the unnamed GP, a member of the Medical Protection Society, paid compensation to Mrs Clarke in an out of court settlement, without admission of fault.

Mrs Clarke said: "No amount of money will ever make up for losing my best friend. I would much rather have Melvyn back."

She described how her husband felt unwell. She said: "He was so poorly, he was being violently sick and was exhausted. We were so worried about him and called 999 for an ambulance to take him to hospital.

"Emergency surgery was performed and it was discovered there was a serious blockage in Melvyn’s bowel that was causing his acute symptoms. After the operation he suffered multi-organ failure."

North Wales Central coroner John Hughes recorded a verdict of accidental death.

Consultant pathologist Dr Mark Atkinson had told the inquest part of the bowel was trapped and blocked, and though that was corrected by the subsequent surgery it affected the ability of the blood to clot. That, in turn, caused a bleed which led to his death.

Dr Atkinson said he had never come across such a complication before. "It is not foreseeable," he said at the hearing.

Describing it as "a very sad story", the coroner said the original surgery had technically been a success, adding: "Once the complication was detected it was put right, but, sadly the catastrophe had already occurred."

Maria Repanos, a clinical negligence solicitor representing the family said: "This is a tragic case. Once the complication was detected by Mr Clarke’s treating surgeon it was too late to improve his condition.

"If his GP had referred him to a specialist earlier, he would have survived."

She added: "Whilst the damages will never compensate for the loss of a loved one, I hope they will go some way to assisting Mrs Clarke in the future."

The MPS declined to comment.