St Vincent's University Hospital has apologised to the family of a 76-year-old woman who died after an operation that was supposed to give her a new lease of life.
RTE are reporting that Freda Fox, from Castlerea in Co Roscommon, died in September 2017 after losing 17 litres of blood in the operation carried out by two trainee surgeons.
She suffered from pancreatitis and on 1 September 2017, she went into St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin for an operation that was supposed to alleviate her condition and give her a new lease of life.
The operation Ms Fox was due to have, known as a Whipple Procedure, is very complex and involves major surgery.
Ms Fox’s operation was being carried out by two trainee surgeons. Consultant Anthony Stafford was not present.
Complications arose after an hour. Ms Fox began bleeding and lost over 17 litres of blood.
Ms Fox went into cardiac arrest three times. The surgery was abandoned and she died in intensive care later that evening.
This morning, the hospital apologised to the family and the case was settled for €200,000, but the court was told it was not about compensation but about ensuring the same thing did not happen to anyone else.
