Hospital chiefs have apologised to the family of an elderly patient who died after surgery.
Ronald Campbell, 76, died after an operation to remove gallstones at Macclesfield Hospital on March 22, 2013, an inquest in April was told. The inquest held at Warrington Crown Court heard that Mr Campbell had a rare condition called Mirrizi Syndrome.
However, during surgery he suffered massive blood loss and never recovered.
Cheshire coroner Nicholas Rheinberg concluded Mr Campbell, a retired printer who worked at Barracks Printing Company at Lower Heys Mill, Macclesfield, died of misadventure.
East Cheshire NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, investigated the death and has since changed its systems so patients with rare conditions will be assessed by a team of doctors and surgeons.
Speaking after the verdict, Mr Campbell’s son, Philip, 53, said the family were planning to sue the trust. He said: “One day dad was laughing and joking ahead of routine surgery, and the next day he was dead. The last 13 months we have been in turmoil.
“It has been very difficult to explain to his grandson, Daniel, and grandaughter, Emma, that he is not coming back. “Now we have learned the true scale of the errors that led to dad’s death we are devastated and angry.”
Mr Campbell, from Congleton, became ill in December 2012 after collapsing while ballroom dancing.
He was diagnosed with Mirizzi’s Syndrome – when a gallstone causes an obstruction in the gall bladder – and booked in for surgery.
A spokesman for East Cheshire NHS Trust, which runs Macclesfield Hospital, said: “We would like to express our sincere condolences to Mr Campbell’s family and are very sorry for their loss. The trust has accepted that the care provided to Mr Campbell was not what it would have expected and has apologised to his family for this.
“The trust carried out an investigation following Mr Campbell’s death and has made a number of changes in response to the findings of the investigation to further improve the services it provides.”
