A Birmingham businessman's widow is considering legal action against a city hospital after her husband's death.
Pamela Jones spoke after an inquest yesterday failed to establish why her 62-year-old husband Stephen died following surgery at the Priory Hospital in Edgbaston.
Mr Jones, who was financial director of All Electric Garages in Harborne and a former president of Walmley Golf Club, died after routine surgery to remove a blood clot from a major blood vessel.
After the inquest at Birmingham Coroner?s Court, Mrs Jones, of Little Sutton, Sutton Coldfield, spoke out after coroner Christopher Ball?s narrative verdict, which is delivered when a death is difficult to categorise.
She said: ?I don?t feel I know any more than I did beforehand. There are still a lot of unanswered questions.
?I am going to seek further legal advice about what to do next, but a civil case is something I?m considering.
?Steve was an active man, he didn?t need this operation but wanted to have it done before he went on a golfing holiday in May. He thought it would be a routine procedure.
?But my family needs answers and I need to know what happened to my lovely husband, why did he die??
Mr Jones died four days after surgeons operated to correct an irregular heart beat by replacing a blood clot on the left side of his heart with a wire mesh stent.
During the operation, a member of staff had to go to Heartlands Hospital, in Bordesley, to obtain suitable stents for the procedure as there were none available at the private hospital.
Liquid also built up in the pericardium, a sack that protects the heart and major blood vessels, putting pressure on the heart which had to be drained for 48 hours.
Consultant cardiologist Dr Patrick Cadigan, told the inquest he was puzzled by Mr Jones? death.
?Although Mr Jones had hypertension there were no physical signs his heart was misbehaving, but the risks of continuing without medical intervention were much higher than the risks of medical intervention,? he said.
?I have to confess to some puzzlement at how this happened. I am surprised Mr Jones didn?t have time to raise the alarm. I would not have expected any threatening heart events at this stage, so this case is a rare one.?
Mr Ball, in delivering his verdict, said: ?Something must have happened very rapidly given Mr Jones didn?t complain of any major symptoms which would indicate there was building pressure on his heart. Stephen Robert Jones died from a combination of rare but recognised complications following an elective cardiac procedure for the prevention of a life-threatening condition.?
But Mrs Jones, aged 59, still has concerns. She said: ?I don?t think my husband got the care he deserved or paid for. Whenever I visited him the nurses were running around like headless chickens because they were so short staffed.
?The family had a meeting with the doctors, director of nursing and hospital director in May, we didn?t get any real answers then and we?ve go no new answers now.?
