Neglect Found to Have Contributed to Death Where There Was Post-Operative Bleeding

Abigail represented the family of Maxine Spittlehouse who underwent a total abdominal hysterectomy at Kinvara Private Hospital on 16 July 2024. The Deceased was being treated as an NHS patient.

Post-operatively, Mrs Spittlehouse suffered significant pain. She then deteriorated overnight with symptoms including pain, tachycardia, reduced urine output, and reduced, and later unrecordable, blood pressures.

Mrs Spittlehouse’s overnight care was provided by a single junior doctor and two nurses. During the night, the two nurses had repeatedly expressed their concerns about Mrs Spittlehouse’s deterioration and stated that they felt that she needed to be transferred to Rotherham District Hospital where post-operative bleeding could be definitively diagnosed and treated.

The Coroner found Mrs Spittlehouse had started to suffer with internal bleeding at around 01:30 am and that by 3:30 the junior doctor had thought that this was the cause of Mrs Spittlehouse’s deterioration. Nonetheless, the junior doctor did not seek input from Mrs Spittlehouse’s treating consultant surgeon until after 5am. During that telephone conversation, the Coroner found that the junior doctor failed to convey important information regarding the woman’s deterioration and the consultant failed to ask questions to enable him to identify that Mrs Spittlehouse was suffering with internal bleeding.

There was then a further delay in transferring Mrs Spittlehouse to a hospital that was equipped to deal with the internal bleeding until after Mrs Spittlehouse had suffered a cardiac arrest after 07:30. Mrs Spittlehouse died of a hypoxic brain injury arising from the cardiac arrest.

The Coroner found that there were cumulative failings on the part of the junior doctor and consultant surgeon in failing to ensure that basic checks were made to identify if Mrs Spittlehouse was bleeding internally. These included not obtaining blood results earlier, not escalating concerns to the consultant surgeon earlier and not effecting transfer of Mrs Spittlehouse to a hospital where her internal bleeding could be treated.

The Coroner concluded that the high threshold for a finding of neglect as part of her narrative conclusion was met and that, ultimately, Mrs Spittlehouse’s death was avoidable.

Abigail was instructed by Christine Brown and Dr Gita Sarda at Medical Solicitors. Their press release can be found here.

Further details reported by the BBC.