Woman lost 17 litres of blood and died during operation carried out by trainee surgeons

High Court reporters

St Vincent’s University Hospital has apologised in the High Court to the family of a 76-year-old woman who died after losing 17 litres of blood during surgery.

The very complex and major Whipple surgery, the High Court heard, was carried out on mother of six, Freda Fox, by two trainee surgeons at the Dublin hospital.

The apology was read out in court as the six Fox children settled for €200,000 a High Court action over her death six years ago.

The family’s counsel Doireann O’Mahony BL, instructed by David O’Malley of Callan Tansey Solicitors, told the court that Mrs Fox believed she was “in the best hands” for the pancreatic surgery which is carried out in cases of suspected cancer to extend life and give back a quality of life.

Counsel said there were complications in the first hour of the five-hour surgery and panic ensued.

She said there was “a surgical catastrophe nobody was prepared for” and Mrs Fox lost 17 litres of blood. A bleed in a vein was identified and repaired, but Mrs Fox went into cardiac arrest.

Counsel said the surgery was abandoned after four hours and Mrs Fox was transferred to the intensive care unit where she later died.

New lease of life

Mrs Fox, from Castelrea, Co Roscommon, was a grandmother and the “heart, light and soul” of the Fox family who had hoped the surgery would give the pensioner a new lease of life, Counsel said.

"Tragically, she never came out of hospital," Counsel added.

The settlement is without an admission of liability.

In the apology read to the court, St Vincent’s University Hospital said it would like to offer sincere apologies to Mrs Fox’s family "for the events that occurred on September 1st, 2017, related to the unexpected death" after the Whipple surgery.

The statement added that the hospital "would like to acknowledge the anxiety and distress this has caused the family".

The case against the hospital was brought by Mrs Fox’s children, Paula, Sandra, Vanessa, Natalie, Ray and Padraic over the death of their mother and also for mental distress.

Outside the court, Paula Fox, on behalf of the family, said their mother was so proud to be as fit and healthy as she was.

She said they had now lost all faith in the medical system.

It was just elective surgery, she was told she would be fine.

“It was just elective surgery, she was told she would be fine; it was just a precaution and just go ahead and get it done. We went on holiday two weeks before that and they told her to go and have a great time because after surgery she would be out of action for a few weeks,” she said.

She added: “We were preparing to take her home and mind her at home, and she didn’t come home to us.”

Asked what the apology from the hospital meant to the family, Ms Fox said: "To be honest it doesn't mean anything to us. We have lost our mother."

The inquest into the death of Mrs Fox heard that the cause of death was hypovolemic shock secondary to a massive blood loss occurring during the Whipple procedure.

A pathologist told the inquest into the death of Mrs Fox that she found no obvious defect in the affected blood vessel but noted Mrs Fox had undergone previous surgery and the gall bladder was removed.

Noting the settlement, Mr Justice Paul Coffey expressed his deepest sympathy to the Fox family.