Surgeon ordered to pay £1.2m over patient's death

Simon Healey, 60, died after his condition deteriorated after bowel surgery

A surgeon found to be negligent following an operation on a patient who later died has been ordered to pay £1.2m towards damages and costs.

Simon Healey, 60, died from sepsis in August 2017 nine days after bowel surgery at the Berkshire Independent Hospital in Reading.

A claim brought by Mr Healey's widow Alison was settled by Ramsay Health Care UK, which runs the hospital, in 2022.

But a High Court judge found surgeon Daniel McGrath was “very substantially at fault” for failures that led to Mr Healey’s death and should pay the majority of previously agreed damages.

Mr Healey, who had been diagnosed with bowel cancer, had surgery to remove part of his colon on 1 August before his condition started to deteriorate three days later.

He suffered an anastomotic leak, which caused faecal contents to drain into his abdominal cavity.

Mr McGrath admitted he should have arranged an X-ray to investigate a possible anastomotic leak in the days after the surgery, according to court papers.

During an inquest held into Mr Healey’s death in 2019, Berkshire coroner Heidi Connor said she heard "no evidence of consideration" of Mr Healey's care being "escalated" at any point during his care at the hospital.

After being transferred to the Royal Berkshire Hospital, also in Reading, Mr Healey was taken back into theatre twice but the "septic process" continued and he died on 10 August.

Deputy High Court Judge Dexter Dias KC ordered Mr McGrath to pay £900,000 - 75% of the £1.2m Ramsay Health Care UK agreed to pay Mrs Healey in damages - and another £313,135, 75% of £417,500 costs Ramsay paid to her.

He said while both Mr McGrath and Ramsay accepted negligence for Mr Healey’s care, Mr McGrath’s failings were “very serious” and his “breach of duty significantly exceeds” Ramsay’s.

Mr McGrath failed to attend a hearing in April and the judge said his conduct was “unsatisfactory, unrealistic and uncooperative”.

He was ordered to pay a third of Ramsay’s costs defending Mrs Healey’s claim.

The judge said in a judgement published on Friday that Mr McGrath’s “negligence set in train a sequence of ultimately catastrophic events”, which led to Mr Healey’s death.