Neurosurgeon says previous brain injury contributed to death

A consultant neurosurgeon told an inquiry into the death of a boxer he thinks a bleed outside the brain discovered after his death contributed to it.

Richard Stephen Cooke said he looked at scans carried out on Mike Towell, 25, at annual boxing medicals, medical records, the CT scan carried out on September 29, 2016 and the post-mortem report.

The post-mortem revealed the brain injury causing Mike’s death but also found a previously undiscovered small bleed on the surface of the brain.

He said Mike probably suffered the brain injury around three weeks before he first attended hospital on September 11, 2016 with severe head pain on his left side.

Mr Cooke said he would have “supported the decision” not to operate on Mike after he suffered the “fatal and unsurvivable injury”.

The witness gave evidence at the probe into the fighter’s death at Glasgow Sheriff Court.

Mike, from Dundee, died of a brain injury the day after he lost a bout in the fifth round to Welsh fighter Dale Evans on September 29, 2016.

He was given medical treatment in the ring before being taken to hospital but died 24 hours later on September 30.

Procurator fiscal depute Eileen Beadsworth asked if Mr Cooke could comment on the decision made not to operate on Mike.

He replied: “It’s a decision I would have supported, the decision I would have made if I was in that same situation with a similar patient.”

Asked why that is, he said: “This was unfortunately and sadly a fatal injury from the time that he presented at hospital.

“He was deeply unconscious, his Glasgow coma scale was four on initial presentation.

“So, the clinical and radiological features unfortunately indicated this was a fatal and unsurvivable injury and that treatment would not have achieved anything.”

Mr Cooke said: “My thought was it (the small bleed) was more likely prior to his first attendance on September 11, probably three weeks before his first attendance.”

The inquiry continues.