‘CATASTROPHIC’ REACTION TO DRUG AFTER SURGERY

Mum died after heart valve replacement op at the Royal Stoke

A Mum-of-two died from a ‘rare and catastrophic’ reaction to medication following heart surgery.

Lynette O’conner was taken to Royal Stoke University Hospital after blacking out and hitting her head at her Ball Green home.

The 41-year-old cleaner was diagnosed with heart failure and needed a heart valve replacement.

An inquest heard the surgery went well. But following the procedure on November 26, Lynette had to be injected with protamine.

Her blood pressure suddenly dropped and – despite three consultants battling to save her over a 12-hour period – she died the following day.

Lynette, who was asthmatic, had begun experiencing problems with dizziness around two years earlier.

In a statement, her partner Anthony Muise said: “A consultant diagnosed her with vertigo and she was prescribed medication. The medication made her unsteady on her feet. She decided to stop taking it.”

Lynette also contacted her GP to complain of shortness of breath and a tight chest. She was given antibiotics and steroids, and advised to go to A&E for a more in-depth assessment.

She was diagnosed with a chest infection last May.

Dr Medhat Guindy, senior partner at the practice, said her symptoms seemed related to asthma, rather than her heart.

Then on November 1, Lynette went downstairs at her Brownfield Road home to get her inhaler. When she returned to the bedroom, she fainted.

As well as experiencing a fracture, she was found to have mitral valve stenosis. The surgery involved giving her heparin to thin her blood before she was put on a heart machine so the valve could be replaced.

Lognathen Balacumaraswami, a consultant cardiothoracic surgeon, said: “It was performed in a straightforward manner. The heart restarted spontaneously.”

He explained it was standard practice to then give a test dose of protamine. But Lynette suffered a ‘catastrophic, hypersensitive reaction’.

“We put our heads together to do everything we could to resurrect the situation,” Mr Balacumaraswami said.

He put the cause of death down to type three hypersensitivity to protamine, with mitral valve stenosis and acute, decompensated heart failure.

Concluding it was a rare complication of necessary heart surgery, North Staffordshire assistant coroner Sarah Murphy said: “Even if the surgery was completed sooner, it is unlikely she would have survived. She was one of those unfortunate people who had a very rare reaction to protamine.”