Woman dies ‘in agony’ six days after test goes wrong
A PENSIONER who died after her throat was torn during a routine surgical procedure told relatives before she died: ‘Look at what they did to me.’ Janet McGown, 95, passed away at Victoria Hospital, i n Kirkcaldy, Fife, earlier this year after undergoing an endoscopy.
During the procedure, where a tube is put down a patient’s throat, the surgeon cut her oesophagus leaving her gasping and choking for breath. Within days she had developed a chest infection which led to her death.
Miss McGown’s niece Jane Russell said: ‘That should never have been the way for her to die. She lasted six days in agony.
‘She said to me: “I wish I had just kept my sickness. I won’t be getting out of here – look at what they did to me”.
‘It’s unfair when people say she was already 95 and had a good life. She wasn’t ready to go yet, she’d have seen out 100 easily.’
Miss McGown, a retired midwife, of Kirkcaldy, lived by herself at a sheltered housing complex and did her own weekly shopping at a local supermarket.
Mrs Russell, of Glenrothes, Fife,
‘We just want an explanation’
said: ‘She was an amazingly strong woman. My aunt had been by herself her whole life and was fiercely independent.
‘Before the operation she was no weakling, she was partially sighted but that never kept her back. My husband had to tell her to slow down on her mobility scooter.’
But six months ago she began to feel sick and doctors diagnosed stones in the bile duct. In January she underwent a ‘basket extraction endoscopy’ to remove the stones.
Miss McGown died on February 4, less than a week later. The death certificate states she died of a chest infection as a result of the wound.
Mrs Russell said: ‘We just want an explanation. Why were we not told that there would be more risks?
‘If my aunt had been told everything then she never would have had the operation.’
Victoria Hospital has hit the headlines in recent months following a string of complaints.
In one case, a 25-year-old woman had to give birth outside the hospital in February last year after nurses failed to answer the door buzzer for several minutes.
Dr Brian Montgomery, medical director of NHS Fife, said: ‘I would like to offer my condolences to the family of Miss McGown.
‘I can confirm that we are aware of this case and encourage the family to contact our patient relations department to discuss their concerns further.’