Medical case review and possible negligence.

[TwoScottieDogs]

Apologies for putting this in 'chat' but I didn't get any replies in 'legal matters'!

My FIL died in Dec 2020 following the complications of an operation to remove an abdominal aortic aneurysm. We have now been informed by the hospital that there has been a review of 44 of the vascular clinical records (including my FIL's) and now there will be a further review taking place.

Can anyone shed any light on what will happen next? How long will the review take? The letter from the Health Board was not clear. Should we just wait for the outcome or should we seek legal representation? We would want to ensure that his case is reviewed independently.

Any advice would be appreciated.

I’m sorry you lost your dad. My own dad had an AAA several years ago. He was extremely lucky in that he survived the surgery. The vascular consultant was very clear to us all before he took dad into theatre that the outcome was most likely to be that he would not survive the surgery, especially if the aneurism ruptured, and that even if he did, he may well not survive the recovery period. He did eventually die from the effects of the surgery several months later.
My point is, this is a very risky procedure with the odds stacked against survival. I’m not sure why you may need legal representation at this stage, unless you think that some medical negligence took place? But then again, you’d like to think that as they’ve said they’re carrying out a review, which should be independently done anyway, if there was any negligence it would come to light?

Thank you so much for the reply and sorry to hear about your dad.

My FIL's pre-op and op took place during covid and no-one was allowed to attend the hospital with him. We had no idea how serious the op was as originally it was planned as key hole surgery, then delayed by covid and then done as open surgery.

On the day of the op, we didn't hear anything until 10pm and were told the procedure had taken 10 hours. He survived for 3.5 weeks.

The idea of negligence never entered our minds at all until the hospital contacted us to say my FIL's records were part of the review and then we read a news article (www.itv.com/news/wales/2022-02-09/patient-given-amputation-that-wasnt-needed-at-north-wales-hospital) and found the initial report online (bcuhb.nhs.wales/news/updates-and-developments/updates/vascular-services/vascular-services/clinical-vascular-report-january-2022-pdf/)

Now we have so many questions, which we will direct to the hospital on Monday. Would love to hear if anyone else has been through a similar experience?

Oh no, that’s so sad. I hope you get closure x

Thank you. We spoke to the hospital today and they've told us the timescales for the review and how we will be informed. Feel a bit more reassured now.