Dad died day after routine operation
8:53am Tuesday 30th October 2012 in News
A FATHER-of-five died during an emergency operation — a day after a routine operation at the Royal Bolton Hospital.
Malcolm Cowan, aged 59, suffered a heart attack during the operation on July 12 last year.
An inquest heard he had been rushed into theatre after a major drop in his blood pressure, which was caused by a post-operative bleed.
A day earlier, Mr Cowan, of Belmont Road, Astley Bridge, had undergone an operation on his prostate.
At the Bolton inquest yesterday, Mr Cowan’s wife Annemarie said that after the first operation on July 11, he was “laughing and joking”.
But the following day at noon, she received a call to say Mr Cowan was going to be taken into theatre at 2pm.
When she arrived at the hospital an hour later, she said his condition had changed and he was “very agitated”.
He was taken to theatre for his operation and was pronounced dead at 4.20pm.
The inquest heard that Mr Cowan’s blood pressure began to drop at 11am, but he was not taken into theatre until three hours later.
Consultant Mr Hamayun Saghir had checked on Mr Cowan’s condition at 8.30am, before going to Bolton One to work on the out-patients department.
He called to check Mr Cowan’s condition at 10.30am and was told it had not altered. An on-call consultant was available in the hospital in his absence.
At 11.45am, he sent a doctor to the Royal Bolton Hospital to find out about Mr Cowan’s condition, after growing increasingly concerned. When Mr Saghir arrived at the hospital at 4pm, he discovered Mr Cowan was in cardiac arrest.
The court was told that Mr Saghir’s pager was broken and his mobile signal was unreliable in Bolton One.
When asked if he would be concerned at the drop in blood pressure and Mr Cowan’s condition, Mr Saghir said: “I think the nursing staff and doctors that were there should have contacted the on call doctor as well as the consultant that operated.”
He added that Mr Cowan should have been operated on “as quickly as possible”.
Deputy Coroner Alan Walsh adjourned the inquest to gather additional medical statements and to call two additional doctors to give evidence.
It is expected to be held in January.
Comments(6)
Undetectableman
says...
7:20pm Tue 30 Oct 12
duffbikes wrote:So sad to read this but then Oh how lucky I was
Sounds like a catalogue of errors, as an ex prostate patient myself I found a lot to be desired after my first biopsies operation. I feel for the family facing this after a 'routine' operation.
Around this time I also was in the clutches of the Urology department at Royal Bolton, not the same consultant but sadly similar experiences and poor patient care following a biopsy and the results being advised and proposed plan of action were so negative and poorly handled by the consultant and his staff.
Thankfully through me objecting to the way in which I was treated (this still angers me, that I should be expected to do battle to get appropriate treatment when coping with illness) combined with an excellent supportive GP and Oncologist, I was able to explore other options (surgically) available to me, resulting in my having a successful outcome at another hospital, and believe me, a totally different professional and positive approach by all staff to my treatment.
I also have grave concerns regarding the fact that in the case the Consultant was away from the hospital at an “Outpatients Clinic” at the new wonderful (Inaccessible) Bolton One.
I have noticed that several clinics have now been transferred to this location, which offers (from my own experiences) poor parking for both patients (especially for those with walking difficulties i.e. orthopaedic patients) and I understand, the Consultants and staff who have to travel there from the Royal Bolton also have issues with parking.
So the consultant in this case would have had problems getting to his car and back to the RBH in an emergency situation add to that the poor reception on his mobile at Bolton One and his broken pager, then surely this is a recipe for disaster.
Can anybody tell me why these clinics have been moved to Bolton One, it seems a silly nonsense and a poor attempt to justify the use of this building?
It would be interesting to know the “on Cost” of the Consultants and other staff having to split their time between the two locations, apart from the obvious issue in this case that had the Consultant been on site at the RBH holding his clinic he could have been contacted and available to deal with this situation far more efficiently!!
I note that Mr Walsh the Coroner is seeking further advice from Health professionals, perhaps he should also be seeking advice from patients and asking why clinics are being moved to Bolton One?
afemale
says...
9:38pm Tue 30 Oct 12
Undetectableman wrote:well said, couldn't agree with you more
duffbikes wrote:So sad to read this but then Oh how lucky I was
Sounds like a catalogue of errors, as an ex prostate patient myself I found a lot to be desired after my first biopsies operation. I feel for the family facing this after a 'routine' operation.
Around this time I also was in the clutches of the Urology department at Royal Bolton, not the same consultant but sadly similar experiences and poor patient care following a biopsy and the results being advised and proposed plan of action were so negative and poorly handled by the consultant and his staff.
Thankfully through me objecting to the way in which I was treated (this still angers me, that I should be expected to do battle to get appropriate treatment when coping with illness) combined with an excellent supportive GP and Oncologist, I was able to explore other options (surgically) available to me, resulting in my having a successful outcome at another hospital, and believe me, a totally different professional and positive approach by all staff to my treatment.
I also have grave concerns regarding the fact that in the case the Consultant was away from the hospital at an “Outpatients Clinic” at the new wonderful (Inaccessible) Bolton One.
I have noticed that several clinics have now been transferred to this location, which offers (from my own experiences) poor parking for both patients (especially for those with walking difficulties i.e. orthopaedic patients) and I understand, the Consultants and staff who have to travel there from the Royal Bolton also have issues with parking.
So the consultant in this case would have had problems getting to his car and back to the RBH in an emergency situation add to that the poor reception on his mobile at Bolton One and his broken pager, then surely this is a recipe for disaster.
Can anybody tell me why these clinics have been moved to Bolton One, it seems a silly nonsense and a poor attempt to justify the use of this building?
It would be interesting to know the “on Cost” of the Consultants and other staff having to split their time between the two locations, apart from the obvious issue in this case that had the Consultant been on site at the RBH holding his clinic he could have been contacted and available to deal with this situation far more efficiently!!
I note that Mr Walsh the Coroner is seeking further advice from Health professionals, perhaps he should also be seeking advice from patients and asking why clinics are being moved to Bolton One?
lifes issues
says...
9:54pm Tue 30 Oct 12
tlksense
says...
1:45pm Wed 31 Oct 12
Citizen Cane
says...
8:28pm Wed 31 Oct 12
duffbikes says...
2:28pm Tue 30 Oct 12