A WOMAN from Fordingbridge died at hospital days after undergoing major heart surgery.

An inquest heard how Daphne Gordon, of Bridge Street, died at Southampton General Hospital on September 7, after having elective surgery to combat her coronary artery disease on August 27.

Dr Szabolcs Miskolczi, consultant cardiac surgeon at Southampton General Hospital, said the surgery was “uneventful” but the 82-year-old unfortunately fell within the five per cent of patients who die after such an operation.

But not having the surgery would have limited her life expectancy to a maximum of two years, he told the hearing at Winchester.

Questions were raised about a registrar’s mistake made during a lung test carried out on Mrs Gordon several weeks before the operation – which had to be moved last minute as a result.

“If I had known this I would have taken her in at least three to four days before surgery but I didn’t know that until the day of surgery,” Dr Miskolczi said.

He told the hearing Mrs Gordon should have undergone activities to strengthen her respiratory system beforehand but that process was cut much shorter than he would have liked.

“It was causing a lot of stress to her to delay this and we managed to get her in that condition because, retrospectively, she was well. I think it was the right decision because the lung disease wasn’t affecting her recovery,” he added.

The post mortem showed she developed a large blood clot in her right lung – thought to have developed either after surgery or as a result of the resuscitation process.

Dr Adrian Bateman, consultant histopathologist at Southampton General Hospital, said he was unable to confirm if the clot was as a result of a slow bleed as a result of the surgery or had developed quickly closer to her death.

The hearing was told Mrs Gordon was found collapsed on the commode in her room after being disconnected from the heart monitor enabling her to become more mobile.

The monitor had been turned off a short time before which had allegedly been causing her some distress as interference would trigger the alarm.

In statements read during the inquest, nurses said Mrs Gordon had been left alone for between eight to 10 minutes before staff realised she was moribund.

Recording a narrative verdict, senior coroner for South Hampshire, Grahame Short, said it was necessary to allow Mrs Gordon her privacy.

“I do think it was appropriate; it did seem it was causing some nuisance... and was distressing her,” he said.

“It’s not a death from natural causes but as a result from the surgery which was conducted and the side effects of that surgery which led to her death.”