Hospital neglect leads to woman's death after weight loss surgery

In the United Kingdom, specifically at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth, a series of significant medical mishaps led to the death of Susan Evans, a 55-year-old woman. She had undergone elective gastric bypass surgery on July 11, 2023, and initially seemed to recover well. However, two days later, she began to experience abdominal pain and returned to the hospital, where she was discharged without the attention of a specialist or senior doctor—this despite hospital policy requiring such examinations for patients reporting post-surgical pain. This lapse occurred on July 13, 2023, coinciding with the first day of a junior doctors’ strike. The staff on duty were reportedly unaware of the necessary protocols regarding post-operative care for bariatric surgery patients. Thus, Susan Evans was sent home while still in pain. Two days later, she returned to the hospital in a critical state, now diagnosed with abdominal sepsis resulting from an anastomotic leak—a known complication associated with gastric bypass procedures. She underwent multiple additional surgeries, including significant remedial operations on July 15 and July 25, but her condition continued to deteriorate, ultimately leading to her death on August 12, 2023. In her report following the investigation into her death, Assistant Coroner Sally Olsen criticized the failure of the hospital to adhere to its written policies regarding patient care, emphasizing that these failures contributed more than minimally to Evans' untimely demise. The coroner highlighted that had Susan Evans been adequately seen by a member of the bariatric team post-surgery, it was likely she would have been kept hospitalised and treated sooner for her condition. Furthermore, the report pointed to systemic issues within the hospital's staffing, exacerbated by the absence of specialists during the doctors' strike, leading to a lack of experienced medical oversight at a critical time. Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust has until February 7, 2025, to respond to the coroner, outlining the actions they will take to prevent such occurrences from happening in the future.