Weightloss mother dies after Telford op complications

Lisa Crowe, 48, from Kent, died at the Princess Royal Hospital after having 85 per cent of her stomach removed, an inquest in Wellington heard.

The housewife, of Acorn Close, Kingsnorth, suffered internal bleeding following a sleeve gastrectomy which she booked after tipping the scales at more than 25 stone. She hoped the drastic measure to reduce her stomach to just 15 per cent of its size would bring an end to her 20 years of obesity-related health problems.

Miss Crowe was the first fatality for Dr Audun Sigurdsson, who had carried out more than 200 identical operations. The surgeon assessed his patient at a clinic in London before booking her in for the operation in Telford.

He told the inquest at Wellington Civic Centre yesterday that Miss Crowe had suffered childhood obesity and had been morbidly obese for 20 years before she "had reached the maximum size of 163 kg" (25 stone 9lb). He said her body mass index was 61.3 when a normal range is 18 to 25.

Explaining the weight loss surgery which took place on October 26, Dr Sigurdsson said: "We remove around 85 per cent of the stomach itself. To do that we need to separate the stomach from its surroundings and divert some of the vessels that feed the stomach.

"There are about four or five these vessels called short gastric arteries about an inch long and they sit between the spleen and the stomach." He described the surgery as "straightforward". But she became unwell and her blood pressure plummeted. She was rushed back into theatre where Dr Sigurdsson struggled to find a clear source of the bleeding. Miss Crowe passed away at 8am on October 26.

A post mortem concluded Miss Crowe had died of internal bleeding from the short gastric artery "despite heroic efforts to save her".

Mr John Ellery, coroner for Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin,

recorded death due to a complication of surgery.