Error by trainee anaesthetist led to boy's death, inquest told
The circumstances which led to a schoolboy being starved of oxygen after a routine operation should be included in the training of all anaesthetists, an inquest heard today.
Belfast Coroner’s Court was told there was no suggestion of negligence on behalf of medical staff who cared for 13-year-old Michael McCallum at Antrim Area Hospital.
But an independent report heard a trainee anaesthetist made a critical error by not realising the teenager’s oxygen tube had become obstructed.
Michael, of Warren Crescent, Portstewart, was pronounced dead almost two weeks after he lapsed into a coma following an operation to remove his appendix in January last year.
Dr William McCaughey, who compiled the independent report, told the inquest: “The scenario should be included in the training of all anaesthetists.”
He said the chain of events which led to the oxygen supply being severed for up to 10 minutes after a successful operation was very rare.
It has been suggested the tube became trapped in the mechanics of the operating table.
The consultant anaesthetist, who is based at Craigavon Area Hospital, said: “I suspect that this is the first incident of this kind that has occurred and neither the manufacturers (of the breathing system) or anyone else has anticipated this problem.”
Dr McCaughey said the explanation for the complication was a blockage to the circuit which cut off the oxygen supply to Michael’s brain.
Dr Michael Mullan, the surgeon who carried out the operation, told the inquest the complication was an anaesthetic one as opposed to a surgical one.
Staff nurse Sharon Gault was recalled to the witness box to clarify how the trainee anaesthetist, Dr Mark Dougherty, had lifted the tubes to prevent them becoming trapped in the trolley.
She said he held back the tubes with his arm.
As a second day of complex evidence came to an end, HM Coroner for Greater Belfast John Leckey told the hearing: “I find it difficult to visualise entrapment (of the oxygen tube) following the evidence of Staff Nurse Gault.”
The inquest previously heard Michael, who was known as Mikie, loved football, skateboarding and skiing.
On the opening day of the hearing his parents, Roger McCallum and Elizabeth Currie, said they were shocked to learn their son had little chance of survival after he went into a coma following surgery on January 2, 2005. The schoolboy was pronounced dead on January 15.
A post mortem examination found the teenager died of a lack of oxygen to the brain caused by the compression of an anaesthetic breathing tube.
The hearing continues.
