Woman's death was 'preventable'

Marlene Wrightman died at the Western General Hospital

The death of a woman following breast surgery in Edinburgh's Western General Hospital has been described as "entirely preventable" by a sheriff.

A fatal accident inquiry heard how Marlene Wightman, 49, bled to death on 23 March 2006 after a mastectomy.

Mrs Wightman, from Dalkeith, weighed seven-and-a-half stone and was 5ft.

Sheriff Isabella McColl said reasonable precautions that might have prevented the death included earlier diagnosis that she was haemorrhaging.

The sheriff also said transferring her to a high dependency unit for a minimum of 24 hours after her surgery and training nursing and junior staff about volumes of blood in drains of patients could have helped prevent Mrs Wightman's death.

When her deterioration was finally recognised it was too late to save her Marlene Wightman's family

Defects in procedures which contributed to Mrs Wightman's death, according to the FAI, were a failure to provide an adequate system education for nurses and junior doctors and a failure to provide out of hours cover with staff who had adequate experience or training.

The sheriff also hit out at the records being kept about Mrs Wightman, stating they were "incomplete and contained inconsistencies, inaccuracies, alterations and errors".

The judge told Edinburgh Sheriff Court that the treatment of Mrs Wightman's family at the hospital had been "fairly appalling".

Professor Alistair Thompson of Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, called by the Crown as an expert witness, said if Mrs Wightman had not died she could have looked forward to at least an 82% chance of surviving for 10 years after her surgery.

Stay alive

Elaine Motion, solicitor advocate for the family, acknowledged that the hospital had taken some steps to remedy the failures identified by the inquiry, but said there was still much to be done.

In a statement, husband Tom, son John and daughter Lisa, described Mrs Wightman as, "the heart and soul of our family".

"It pains us deeply to have heard during a very lengthy fatal accident inquiry over the course of a year that Marlene was suffering for hours before anyone realised she was deteriorating" they said.

"When her deterioration was finally recognised it was too late to save her.

"Marlene fought for a long time to stay alive, but was failed by the system that so many of us put our trust in."