THE family of a Burnley teacher who died after a routine gall stones operation have said mistakes were made in his treatment by East Lancashire hospitals.

Retired Barden High deputy headmaster Peter MacMahon died after developing complications following the operation to remove his gall bladder, an inquest heard.

His family are now preparing a civil claim against the hospital trust and have said they do not want the same thing to be allowed to happen to anyone else.

The hearing was told the 76-year-old returned to his home in Reedfield, Reedley, after the operation at Burnley General Hospital, but was readmitted within days to the Royal Blackburn Hospital, in considerable pain.

While doctors advised on January 7 that he needed a magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) scan, this recommendation was never followed through.

An attempt was made to perform an endoscopic retrograde cholangio-pancreatography (ERCP) scan, which would have given some indication about the nature of his bile duct problems. But this proved unsuccessful.

Mr MacMahon's daughter Ann Gowdy said her sister Gill Dawson, herself a former nurse, had arrived five days later to find him showing signs of dehydration, and she tried to alert nursing staff to his condition.

Later it was found that Mr MacMahon was had signs of malnourishment, but hospital dieticians insisted that his condition did not merit their intervention, according to his medical notes, the hearing was told.

The inquest heard that Mr MacMahon was likely to have suffered a cut to his hepatic duct, during the gall stones operation, performed by locum consultant surgeon Dr Amit Chatterjee at Burnley on December 23.

Dr Peter Ellis, representing the MacMahon family, said no fewer than four recommendations were made in January for the patient to have an MRCP scan, but he never received one.

The inquest heard the issue was superceded when Mr MacMahon's condition started to deteriorate and a decision was taken to stabilise his health first.

The court heard that he had begun to develop septicaemia and required emergency surgery to remove a build-up of pus in his peritoneal cavity.

That operation was completed on January 30 but Mr MacMahon died the following day.

Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Coroner Michael Singleton, following an inquest at Clitheroe, recorded a narrative verdict regarding the circumstances surrounding Mr MacMahon's death.

Mr Singleton said: "He was initially diagnosed to be suffering from a bile leakage but a scan to establish the source of the leakage, prior to any corrective surgery, was not carried out.

"His condition continued to deteriorate and he became malnourished and dehydrated. Attempts at performing an ERCP were unsuccessful and despite an emergency (operation) being carried out on January 30, Peter MacMahon died the following day from multi-organ failure."

The family of Mr MacMahon, including his wife Joyce and three grown-up children, said that lessons must be learned from his death.

His daughter Ann said: “This has been a terribly upsetting ordeal for our entire family, but we are glad light has been shed on the poor treatment which left my father suffering and ultimately passing away.

"East Lancashire NHS Hospitals Trust has a great deal of self-examination to begin here, about the part its procedures played in his suffering and I hope they take a long, hard look at how and why we got here.

"It can’t be allowed to happen again.”

Law firm Irwin Mitchell, which is representing the family, said it was now preparing a civil claim.

Clinical negligence expert Leena Savjani: “Peter should have been home for Christmas but mistakes in his treatment mean he suffered an uncomfortable death that could have been avoided."

Later Lynn Wissett, the hospital's trust's deputy chief executive, said: "Some issues were raised in the course of the inquest regarding Mr MacMahon's management at the Royal Blackburn Hospital.

“The trust is already looking at Mr MacMahon's care to see if there any lessons to be learned.”