Man asks for anaesthetic review after wife's death

The family of a doctor who died after she was given too much anaesthetic during an operation want an urgent national review of how the drug is given to patients.

Rachel Gibson, 47, went into cardiac arrest following a hip replacement surgery at Spire Lea Hospital in Cambridge on 12 April 2022. She sustained irreversible brain damage and died at Addenbrooke’s Hospital three months later.

In a prevention of future deaths report to the Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCOA), Cambridgeshire coroner Philip Barlow said there was "inconsistency" with the way local anaesthetic was measured, increasing the risk of mistakes.

Dr Gibson's husband, Cliff, 49, said it was a "national problem" and "we need to put pressure on the college to make changes".

He previously worked in the pharmaceutical industry on a project on drug safety and medical labelling and said he knew "how strict they are with everything".

"So to see how little or no documentation is needed with the administration of a local anaesthetic in surgery with a drug known to be toxic and to cause cardiac arrest - I find the whole thing baffling," he said.

"We now know that there are major problems with basic record keeping, training, handover notes and communication."

Mr Barlow asked the RCOA to examine existing practices and see if improvements could be made, after it was revealed similar practices to those which occurred in Dr Gibson's operation were used nationally.

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Source: BBC News, 6 September 2024