Presence Of Anaesthetist ‘Could Have Prevented Cardiac Arrest’

A Dudley man, who suffered a heart attack when an Anaesthetist left the operating theatre whilst he was undergoing surgery, has revealed how he hopes to move on with his life now lawyers have secured him a settlement.

Adam Bennett, 48, was undergoing routine urological surgery at Russell’s Hall Hospital in April 2015 when he was left unattended by the anaesthetist for two minutes. During that time, Adam suffered a cardiac arrest and the procedure was abandoned.

Following the incident, Adam instructed specialist medical negligence lawyers at Irwin Mitchell to investigate the standard of care he received.  After securing expert evidence, Adam’s Letter of Claim was served on Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust alleging that if the Anaesthetist was present at the time of the cardiac arrest, drugs could have been administered, which would have prevented the heart attack and ensured the surgery proceeded as planned.

Now, after clinical negligence specialists at Irwin Mitchell helped him secure a five-figure settlement from the NHS trust involved, Adam has outlined how he hopes the same problems will never happen again.

Ashley Cocker, a Solicitor and medical negligence expert at Irwin Mitchell’s Birmingham office, represented Adam

Expert Opinion

Anyone undergoing surgery expects that they will get the best possible standard of care, so the circumstances of this case are very worrying.

“While we are pleased to have helped our client achieve a settlement, it is absolutely vital that everything possible is done to learn lessons from what happened to him.

“Patient safety should always be the absolute priority for the NHS, yet this type of incident only serves to undermine the trust and confidence of patients. This cannot be allowed to happen again.

"In addition to the substandard care my client received, it is also disappointing that NHS Resolution delayed the settlement of this claim. In the interests of reaching a swift settlement, my client made an early offer to settle in October 2016, however, this was not accepted until September 2017. As a result, following almost a year of needless litigation, avoidable legal costs were incurred." Ashley Cocker - Solicitor

During surgery, whilst Adam was under general anaesthetic, his heart rate became irregular and he went on to have a cardiac arrest.

He said: “After the incident I was told what had happened and how the anaesthetist was not present in the theatre. I honestly could not believe it – you put a huge amount of faith in the doctors treating you, so I was completely shocked to hear what had happened.

“If everything had gone to plan I should have been out of hospital that day, but instead I needed days in hospital to recover and then also another procedure booked in for July.  Because of what I’d been through, I got very worried ahead of that operation and while all went well it was a very stressful time.

“While I am happy to have got a settlement regarding what happened, this was always about more than money for me. Safety has to always come first and the issues I suffered cannot be allowed to happen again. Lessons have to be learned.”

Read more about Irwin Mitchell's expertise in handling medical negligence cases.