Compensation recovered following death of husband after cancer surgery

Jonathan Herbert, specialist clinical negligence lawyer, acting for the claimant recovered damages of £125,000 to compensate the surviving wife of her 73 year old husband for financial losses following his death at the University Hospital of Wales on 08/09/2021 after he failed to recover from surgery to remove colon cancer.

On 19/07/2021 the deceased, an otherwise healthy man, underwent investigations resulting in the diagnosis of a tumour in his colon approximately 2cm in size.  He was advised that it would be treated by surgery.  During the afternoon on 08/09/2021, he underwent a laparoscopic right hemicolectomy.  Post operatively, his observations were stable initially .  However, his blood pressure dropped and his heart rate increased.  Thereafter, he continued to deteriorate and died at approximately 23:30.  The coroner was informed but declined to hold an inquest as the surgeon reported that the deceased died from a known risk of surgery in combination with cardiac issues and could not have been saved.

Jonathan was not satisfied with the surgeon’s explanation and suspected that the cause of death resulted from internal bleeding that could have been treated successfully.  Experts were instructed, and they confirmed that the patient should have survived.  In response to a letter of claim, the defendant admitted certain some allegations of negligence but asserted that survival was unlikely.  Court proceedings were issued and the defendant maintained its stance.  Despite that, it embarked upon settlement negotiations.

Following an exchange of offers, the case settled.

Jonathan Herbert specialises in fatal cases.  If you would like to ask him a question about a potential case, or if you have a general query about any personal injury, contact Jonathan at Thomson Snell & Passmore solicitors on 01892 701226 in confidence. We offer no win no fee agreements on the vast majority of our clinical negligence and personal injury cases.