Death of man after surgery at Derry hospital ‘was avoidable’, says coroner

By Rebecca Black, PA

The death of a Co Tyrone man after surgery at Altnagelvin Hospital was “avoidable”, a coroner has found.

John McHugh (66), from Castlederg, died at the Derry city hospital on August 3rd, 2019, after an operation to remove a tumour from his tongue.

He was the brother of Sinn Féin West Tyrone MLA Maoliosa McHugh, who attended the hearing at Belfast Coroner’s Court on Thursday morning, and said outside court that he wanted to help prevent any other families from going through the same experience.

An inquest into John McHugh’s death, which heard evidence from doctors who treated him and expert witnesses, was told the operation came after he found a lump on his tongue and went to see his GP.

It also heard from his son Sean, who paid tribute to his father, who had worked for Transport for London before his retirement, and in recent years had been travelling with his partner to Florida, London and across Ireland.

He said the father-of-three had a great love of sport and music, particularly following Manchester United and Tyrone, adding that he had been his best friend.

The inquest heard that a decision was taken by specialists to operate to remove the lump on Mr McHugh’s tongue, and he underwent surgery at Altnagelvin Hospital.

He died on August 3rd, 2019, after experiencing issues with secretions and swelling of his mouth.

Western Health and Social Care Trust initiated a serious incident investigation after his death.

During the inquest, experts in cancer care called into question some aspects of Mr McHugh’s treatment, including the scale of the operation for the size of the tumour.

There were also questions over whether a tracheostomy tube had been removed too soon.

Delivering her findings, coroner Maria Dougan said she found that on the balance of probabilities his death had been avoidable, and there had been a number of missed opportunities in his post-surgery treatment.

She said that if less invasive surgery had taken place, and had the tracheostomy remained in situ until the secretions lessened, the death may have been avoided.

Ms Dougan also found there were “missed opportunities” in his care and treatment.

“I find that it would have been prudent to leave the tracheostomy in place for another couple of days to allow for continued swelling, suctioning of secretions and continued protection of the airway,” she said, adding that the trust’s guidance had not been adhered to.