Newlywed died due to transplant complications
WOMAN KNEW SHE HAD ‘NO CHOICE’ BUT TO HAVE NEW HEART OP
Reporter A NEWLYWED who died from devastating complications after a heart transplant knew she had “no choice” but to have the operation, her family has said.
Claire Taylor passed away holding her wife Celli’s hand at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital in September last year – two months after having an urgent heart transplant.
The couple had decided to tie the knot in a ceremony organised by the hospital three months earlier. Now an inquest at Newcastle Coroners’ Court has heard that the transplant and its complications were “a significant factor” in her death, but that it was necessary due to the “perilous nature of her condition”.
Consultant Mohamed Nassar told the hearing: “If she had not had the transplant, whether she would have died within the same range of time, or sooner, or later, I can never tell.
“But you expect these patients don’t live long lives – that’s why she was on the urgent list.”
And Claire’s family said she “knew she had no choice” but to have the operation after being given a 30% chance of survival.
Speaking after the inquest, Claire’s wife Celli said: “We know the surgeons and the staff at the hospital did everything they possibly could, and Claire fought as hard as she possibly could.”
Claire was born with hypo-plastic (left) heart syndrome, which means her heart only had three working chambers instead of four. At at the age of six she had open heart surgery.
But the inquest heard the procedure “was never going to correct the heart” and that sooner or later Claire would need further intervention. She was put on the urgent transplant list and had the operation in July 2017 – two months after being transferred to the Freeman from Manchester. Mr Nassar told the inquest it was an “extremely high risk procedure” given Claire’s condition, but went “relatively smoothly”. However Claire’s heart function started to drop and she was put on a heart-lung Ecmo machine for support. The inquest heard her “final decline” started with a CT scan showing bleeding in her colon. Mr Nassar said “the final event from which there was no recovery” was a gut ischaemia. Claire was taken to theatre to have a look at the gut to see if anything could be done, unfortunately it was just chemicals, the gut was dead inside.” Pathologist Dr Clive Bloxham said he “could see nothing wrong with the surgical technique” in his examination of Claire. “The heart itself looked as if when Celli Taylor it was transplanted it would have been a reasonable heart, but by this point it was clearly damaged. Parts of it were essentially dead or dying.
“That degree of cardiac dysfunction in itself would explain why the bowel was ischaemic.”
Coroner Karen Dilks concluded that Claire died from recognised complications of a necessary surgical procedure. She said: “Sadly the operation led to a number of complications – not unexpected risks in this situation – and the most significant complications Claire suffered were multiple organ failure and gut ischaemia.
“It was an operation that was entirely appropriately undertaken given the position Claire was in, however the pathologist feels in explaining her death on September 19 that the operation and its complications were a significant factor.”
Speaking after the inquest, Claire’s family paid tribute to her as an “inspirational character”.
“Before the operation she said it Claire Taylor at the Freeman Hospital was ‘win win,’ because if she died she would get to see her nana. That’s how she looked at things, she always tried to look at the positives in everything. And the one wish she had, she got, which was to get married.”
Celli and Claire married at the Freeman Hospital on June 16, 2017.
“It was an amazing day, it was like we were at a registrars,’” said Celli.
“That’s the thing about that hospital – they try and make people’s dreams come true as much as they can, as well as looking after them.”