Cancer patient died with swab left inside him
A FAMILY is to sue after a man died when a medical swab was left inside him during surgery, an inquest heard.
Cancer patient Dennis Thompson, 73, still had the foot-long swab in his abdomen after an operation to remove a small tumour on his liver.
Theatre staff knew one was missing, but as the X-ray department was busy a scan was not done.
A swab was found on the theatre floor thought to be the missing surgical ‘mop’. Ten days later he had an X-ray after having
abdominal pains and the swab showed up.
Mr Thompson, of Okehampton, Devon, had surgery to remove it but died.
His surgeon Mr David Stell said he took responsibility for leaving the swab in but added: “I don’t believe that it contributed to the death.”
But the pathologist who did the autopsy said it would have played a “significant part”.
In a narrative verdict, the Plymouth deputy coroner Andrew Cox said the anaesthetic for the operation to remove the swab “did contribute to Mr Thompson’s demise”.