Man died after operation

11:20am Friday 29th February 2008

AN Evesham man had no other option but to have the surgical procedure that led to his death, the Gloucestershire coroner has been told.

John Martin Denniss, 67, of Glebe Road, had a long history of illness, including 20 years of suffering from myelofibrosis along with osteoarthritis, hypothyroidism and heart disease.

He had been admitted to hospital many times and he and his wife were regular visitors to their GP where they sought treatment for his increasing pain.

By September last year, it was decided that the only option remaining was a splenectomy and he was admitted as an emergency patient to Cheltenham General Hospital on September 25.

Five days later he was dead.

Pathologist Dr Keith McCarthy performed the post mortem and told the court that Mr Denniss's spleen was about 10 times the normal weight and his liver was twice the normal weight.

Continual oozing of blood, to which his various medical conditions predisposed him, would have built up during his time in hospital, Dr McCarthy said.

These resulted in the interabdominal haematoma that killed him.

Coroner Alan Crickmore said the operation had gone well and that when Mr Denniss had been checked on by hospital staff on September 28, he had been awake and sitting up in bed talking to his family.

"Mr Denniss was in a situation where the quality of life and his level of pain was such that he had no real choice but to decide on the operation."

"Without it he would have died sooner rather than later."

"He did the right thing but just did not get the right result."

The death was recorded as accidental.

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