Tragic death of campaigner, 58, during surgery
AFIERCELY independent councillor who campaigned all her life for greater inclusivity for people with disabilities died as a result of complications resulting from a kidney operation, an inquest has heard.
The inquest into the death of Deborah George heard how she was a highly respected councillor on St Austell Town Council and active within the Labour Party locally. Born with cerebral palsy, the wheelchair-bound 58-year-old was known for her love of travelling and her dedication to others and was co-founder of the local charity Inclusive St Austell.
Her niece, Sylvia Lobb told the inquest: “Debbie always fought for her independence and when given the opportunity to work she worked hard throughout her life. She did a lot of charity work in the last few years of her life and helped start Inclusive. She was a respected councillor on St Austell Town Council. She was someone who didn’t let her own disability define her or hold her back.”
Debbie had a medical condition which led to the development of kidney stones. As Debbie suffered from recurrent issues, which at times required the administration of intravenous antibiotics, Debbie and consultants at the Royal Cornwall Hospital at Treliske in Truro, took the decision that surgery might be needed.
The inquest heard from urology consultant Nicholas Munro, who operated on Debbie on July 25 last year, that several options were looked at with Debbie very much involved in the decision process. One option was to do nothing but it would have left her with the recurrent issue untreated and the 58-year-old would have continued to suffer, and could have led to an increased risk of sepsis.
The inquest, held in Truro heard how an informed decision was instead made to remove her right kidney as it was only now performing at 15 per cent of its normal capacity. The hearing was told that the procedure was always going to be challenging but turned out to be more difficult.
Mr Munro told the inquest that after 90 minutes of trying to access Debbie’s kidney through keyhole surgery, the decision was taken to continue with open surgery as her kidney was a mass of scarred tissue. It was during the open surgery procedure to remove Debbie’s right kidney that a bleed occurred. The small 7mm tear was staunched and an additional consultant was called in to help. The inquest heard how the blood loss, believed to be between 200ml and 400ml, led to Debbie suffering from a brain ischemia and going into cardiac arrest. Despite efforts by the surgery teams to bring Debbie back she was declared deceased that day.
Andrew Cox, senior coroner for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, said there had been a period of reflection from all involved at RCHT. He said: “This was not a risk-free procedure. No surgery is. But that had been communicated to Ms George and the procedure was deemed appropriate to be undertaken and the procedure was managed appropriately.
“It is an extremely regrettable and disappointing outcome. There is a risk that was always known when you perform surgery and sadly this is what happened at the time.”
In a narrative conclusion, Mr Cox concluded that Debbie died from known complications (blood loss) of an elective surgical procedure.
Following the conclusion, Ms Lobb said: “Debbie was an incredibly independent person. She would not have wanted to be someone with a kidney that was a continuing problem. She wanted to live life to the full and not being able to do that would have been more detrimental to her life. I feel that the right decisions have been taken and I know that Debbie would have agreed that every care that could be taken was taken.”
I know that Debbie would have agreed that every care that could be taken was taken SYLVIA LOBB