One grandfather from Devon has made a medical negligence claim after a botched surgical operation led to hospital staff leaving a medical swab inside him, accident claim experts recently said.
The seventy seven year old man, whose name was withheld from the public, said in his personal injury claims that the swab was left within his body for an unprecedented period of ten months in the wake of a surgical procedure to repair a twist in his bowel that was performed at the North Devon District Hospital, according to an interview appearing in the North Devon Journal. According to the newspaper, the man returned to the hospital not once but twice in the wake of his surgery in order to inform hospital staff that something was amiss, yet both times he was informed that he had nothing to worry about, his surgeon sending him home.
The distraught grandfather only discovered that the gauze swab was left inside him ten months afterwards, as he was re-admitted to hospital as he suffered from crippling abdominal pains, the newspaper said. The elderly pensioner related in the interview that his legal team was now pursuing a compensation claim on his behalf against hospital managers the Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust.
The grandfather says that he has both lingering mental and physical affects from the ordeal, and that his bowel problems still necessitate him to take medication to manage the condition. When approached for comment, an NHS Trust spokesperson remarked that due to the ongoing legal matter, they could not comment.