'Angry' family of Shrewsbury man who died plan to sue hospital after 'catastrophic' surgery decision
The "angry" family of a granddad who died after medics missed a chance to prevent his death are preparing to sue a hospital trust.
Christopher Stuart Smith, aged 54, died after Royal Shrewsbury Hospital doctors made the decision not to put him forward for immediate surgery after a CT scan. The Evri delivery driver left behind a big family including baby grandson Bailey, who he had only met a handful of times.
Mr Smith, who had been diagnosed with lymphoma and had a serious problem with his bowel, would have had a 94 per cent chance of survival had his surgery been performed on the day of the scan. Instead, medics waited three days.
A Serious Incident Investigation Report conducted by Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals Trust (SaTH) found that if the scan had been "reported differently", surgery may have been carried out more promptly, and that waiting to perform the operation drastically cut Mr Smith's survival chances from 94 per cent to 49 per cent. He died on May 25 last year, the day after surgery was performed.
Mr Smith, a father-of-six from Meole Brace, Shrewsbury, left behind a heartbroken family, who are now preparing to sue SaTH for its role in his care.
