A RETIRED chief fire officer who underwent surgery at the Countess of Chester Hospital died from natural causes, an inquest heard.
Thomas William Berrisford, 82, who worked for Octel in Ellesmere Port, died on May 13 last year after an operation to repair an abdominal aortic aneurysm.
At an inquest in Chester yesterday, coroner for Cheshire Nicholas Rheinburg recorded a narrative verdict which found internal bleeding was caused by a leak in an abdominal aortic graft which was inserted to repair an abdominal aortic aneurysm.
Mr Berrisford, of Willow Lane, Deeside, was working as a security guard when he strained his back and groin lifting steel in early March 2011.
He contacted the out-of-hours at Shotton Lane Surgery on March 2, complaining of pain, when he was advised to take paracetamol.
But an inquest heard, when the pain increased he began to sweat and called 999. An ambulance did not attend and the pain later eased.
He contacted the out-of-hour service again and on March 12, and on March 17 he was visited by Dr Henk Stiggelbout at 6.30pm.
A report read out at an inquest told how Mr Berrisford was found in bed with abdominal pain and a bruise to his left side.
He was rushed to the Liverpool Road-based hospital with a suspected abdominal aortic aneurysm – an enlargement of a blood vessel that supplies blood to the abdomen, pelvis, and legs.
He was already on medication to control high blood pressure, cholesterol and tablets to prevent blood clots. He also had a pacemaker fitted in 2007.
A CT scan confirmed Dr Stiggelbout’s fears about an aneurysm and he was quickly sent for emergency surgery.
The inquest heard Mr Berrisford’s aneurysm was four times larger than typically found and further complications arose when the aneurysm was found to be attached to the duodenum – the small intestine.
Mr Rheinburg told the court: “It (the strain) is probably coincidental and not a cause of him later developing a leaking aneurysm. It is unfortunate that when he started to complain of further pain it was easy to describe it as a strain.
“I applaud the hospital for carrying out the operation which has a very high (75 per cent) mortality rate – as some would not even attempt it due to the likely poor outcome.
“The operation failed to save his life, but the operation did not kill Mr Berrisford.”