Coroner condemns anaesthetist who tried to cover up botch

At an inquest at North Yorkshire County Hall yesterday, it emerged consultant anaesthetist Dr Krish Srikanth failed to check the medical records of 79-year-old retired civil servant John Thomson who was at Northallerton’s Friarage Hospital for a major cancer operation and did not realise his larynx had been removed 33 years previously and he would need a tracheostomy tube to support his breathing.

Dr Srikanth put Mr Thomson to sleep and only realised his mistake when the pensioner turned blue and his heart rate and blood pressure crashed.

Hospital staff managed to resuscitate Mr Thomson, but he died at home less than a week later after choking on a build up of excess mucus which had plagued him for a large part of his life.

The inquest heard Dr Srikanth had destroyed one medical record and attempted to persuade a colleague to fill out a false incident report form to hide his error.

North Yorkshire East Coroner Michael Oakley yesterday condemned the actions of Dr Srikanth, who has remained on the payroll of South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust since the incident in December 2009.

He said he would be writing to the GMC over his actions which were described by a leading professor of anaesthesia at the inquest as “grossly negligent”.

Mr Oakley said: “Dr Srikanth had not requested any special equipment for the procedure and accepts now it was his failure that led to Mr Thomson’s inability to breathe.

“Dr Srikanth has, following the failed procedure, then compounded matters by quite frankly attempting to cover it up by destroying one record and attempting to get others to make dishonest statements.”

Mr Thomson, of Hutton Rugby, near Yarm, had been submitted to the Friarage Hospital for the cancer operation the day before his birthday. He was classed as a “high-risk” patient owing to a number of severe health complaints, but Dr Srikanth did not read his medical records and failed to request a tracheostomy tube to allow him to breathe during the anaesthetic.

After putting Mr Thomson to sleep, he then applied oxygen through a face mask, despite it having no way of getting to his lungs.

His assistant at the time, Alison Ball, who has 16 years of experience, told the inquest after doctors had rushed in to save Mr Thomson and he had been taken to intensive care to recover, Dr Srikanth urged her to help him cover his tracks.

“He suggested we fill out an incident report form together to say that we had a tracheostomy tube from the beginning,” she said.

“I believe he was suggesting to me to put down something that wasn’t correct.

“I went to see my manager to say I wasn’t happy to do that.”

Despite his heavy criticism of Dr Srikanth’s actions, the coroner delivered a verdict of misadventure and ruled out a direct causal link between the failed anaesthetic and the cause of Mr Thomson’s death – as even if the operation proved a success it could still have led to a build up of excess mucus which the patient could have struggled to cough up.

Dr Srikanth, who started working as a consultant at the Friarage in October 2008, said: “I have to accept that I made a mistake. I didn’t do a proper assessment.

“When I recognised my error, I rectified it and I took immediate proper actions.”

Prof Rob Wilson, medical director for South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “Our thoughts and condolences go to Mr Thomson’s family at this difficult time.

“Dr Srikanth was referred to the GMC at the time and he was suspended from the medical register at the time.

“He has not done any clinical work in the organisation over that period of time.

“There will now be a disciplinary investigation under the HR policy.”