Woman had Forceps Sewn inside her for Three Months

The forceps were sewn inside Mrs Bowett

A HOSPITAL blunder saw a seven-inch pair of forceps sewn up inside a patient following a routine operation at a Worcestershire hospital.

Mother-of-four Donna Bowett was left in agony for three months before an

X-ray revealed the instrument sewn up inside her following a routine operation at the Alexander Hospital in Redditch.

The case was among hundreds of preventable mistakes that should never happen – known as ‘never events’ – at hospitals across the country revealed by startling new information obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

 

The forceps were sewn inside Mrs Bowett

Her case is one of four ‘never events’ to occur at hospitals run by the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust between 2009 and 2012.  

Ms Bowett, a former nurse, said the nightmare unfolded after she suffered “excruciating pain” after undergoing keyhole surgery to remove her gallbladder in February 2009. 

Doctors could not explain her pain and sent her for an MRI scan – but the magnetic field from the scan caused the metal inside her body to move. 

The scan was stopped when Ms Bowett started screaming with pain, saying it felt like the instrument was trying to “pull through her skin”. 

The blunder was eventually picked up on an X-ray and the forceps removed – three months after her initial surgery.

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust has apologised “unreservedly” to the 42-year-old and paid her a six-figure settlement for her ongoing care and rehabilitation.

But Ms Bowett, of Kidderminster, said she still suffers pain as a result of the error and has had to quit her role as a nurse and take on an admin post. 

“I remember the nurse saying, ‘Don’t worry Donna, the days of them leaving instruments inside patients are long gone’. It had never even crossed my mind,” she said.

“I am devastated that such a thing could happen. There is no excuse for it and I hope improvements are made and staff are trained to ensure nothing like this can happen to anyone else.”

Worcestershire Acute Trust told your Worcester News action has been taken to stop similar horror stories from happening.

 

Forceps like the pair sewn inside Mrs Bowett at the Alexandra Hospital in Kidderminster

 “The trust is deeply sorry for the distress and harm caused to Donna Bowett in 2009 and would like to apologise unreservedly to her,” a spokesman said. 

“This was a ‘never event’ and we now have processes in place to vigorously review our procedures as we take this extremely seriously.” 

Meanwhile, the figures, obtained by BBC Radio Four’s World at One programme, reveal a horrifying picture across England, with more than 750

patients suffering ‘never events' at hospitals across England between 2009

and 2012.

There were 322 cases of foreign objects, such as surgical instruments, left inside patients’ bodies, 214 people had surgery on the wrong body part, 73 patients had feeding tubes inserted into their lungs and 58 were fitted with the wrong implant.

Dr Mike Durkin, director of patient safety for NHS England, said “every single ‘never event' is one too many” and that data is now collated to educate

staff on better practice.

“This is not just the concern of one operating theatre in one hospital,” he said.

“It should be the concern of the leadership of that organisation, of the trust, so that they lead that trust and support both the staff in the operating theatres to work effectively, but also recognise their responsibility for leading safety across the whole of the trust.”