Pregnant mother died after Trainee Surgeons took out her ovary instead of her appendix

The devastated husband of a young mother who died weeks after two trainee surgeons mistakenly took out an ovary instead of her appendix said today he had been “revolted” by their NHS experience.

Maria De Jesus, from Dagenham, was heavily pregnant when she developed pains in her stomach and was admitted to Queen’s Hospital, Romford.

Today her husband, Adelino De Jesus, 53, described the “litany of errors” which lead to her tragic death less than four weeks later on 11 November 2011.

He said: “She went to hospital with stomach pains and we were told she needed to have her appendix out. She had the operation, and left hospital eight days later, but the pain continued. We wouldn’t have ever imagined what they had done.”

Last week an inquest heard that tests carried out on the removed tissue revealed that it was one of her ovaries, not her appendix, on October 31.

But doctors at the hospital only realised the mistake on November 9, two days after when Mrs De Jesus, 32, was readmitted to the hospital and the day she miscarried.

The inquest, at Walthamstow Coroner’s court, also revealed that the initial operation on the mother-of-three was undertaken by two trainee surgeons after senior medical staff had left.

Mr De Jesus, who plans to sue the hospital, added: “The procedure to remove the appendix when Maria was pregnant was not simple. We were told at the inquest that the surgeons had to ‘feel’ for the organ. But they removed the wrong one. We feel that this was negligent.

“My wife’s death could have been prevented, I am sure of it. By the time they realised how serious the situation was - and they promised us all the best consultants, it was too late.”

On Saturday Mr De Jesus received a letter of apology from the chief executive of the Barking, Havering and Redbridge Hospital Trust, Averil Dongworth, who admitted liability and apologised to the family.

He said: “Why has it taken so long? It is one-and-a-half years since she died. The letter is in Portuguese, our native tongue, but my sons speak perfect English - why can’t they give me a letter in English as well? I am revolted by everything. It sickens me.”

A day after the discovery was made, 100ml of septic fluid was drained from the young mother’s abdomen, a day later she miscarried her child and on the November 11 after her appendix was finally removed, she died.

The General Medical Council is currently investigating eight medical staff, including a senior surgical consultant, Dr Babatunde Coker, regarding the incident.

Last week Coroner Chinyere Inyama recorded a narrative verdict, stating that there was a loss of “a window of opportunity” that could have save Mrs De Jesus’s life.

He added: “The absence of protocols for reporting adverse histopathological findings resulted in the loss of a window of opportunity to provide treatment to the deceased that could have affected the outcome.”

Dr Sunita Sharma told the court that she was “puzzled” about Mrs De Jesus’s condition when she returned to hospital in November and decided to look through her pathology results.

She said: “It didn’t make sense that a healthy young woman with appendicitis wasn’t recovering after the appendix had been removed.

“I looked at the results and it showed that her ovary had been removed and not her appendix. I could not believe it, I was shocked.”

Mr De Jesus added: “This is neglect, this is an unlawful killing. If my wife had been given treatment by fully qualified staff and people were informed of the mistake earlier she could still be alive.”

Mrs De Jesus, who worked as a teaching assistant, would have turned 34 last month.

Speaking from her home, her daughter Catarina, 10, said: “We have put the balloons up because it was mum’s birthday and it’s good to celebrate it.”

Her brother Pedro, 16, said: “It feels like such a big injustice.”

Ms Dongworth said in a statement: “The trust fully accepts the inquest verdict. I would once again like to apologise unreservedly to Mrs De Jesus’ family for their loss. “We have admitted liability in this case. The staff involved in Mrs De Jesus’ care have been deeply affected by her death.

“An extensive trust-wide action plan was drawn up following Mrs De Jesus’ death in 2011 to ensure that such a tragic incident will not happen again.

“We have kept Mrs De Jesus’ family fully informed about the investigation into her death and the subsequent wide-ranging work which has taken place to improve systems and patient safety."

Source: StandardUK