Compensation secured after man’s feeding tube wrongly pierces bowel

Amanda Cavanagh, a medical negligence specialist at Ashtons Legal, has secured a significant amount of compensation for a man who was left in severe pain after his feeding tube was incorrectly inserted.

Mr F was suffering with gastroparesis, a chronic condition in which the stomach cannot empty itself in the normal way.

After being fitted with a feeding tube, he began to experience nausea, vomiting and pain. He then agreed to have this one taken out and replaced with a different type of feeding tube.

Within a few days the new tube had caused Mr F to suffer further painful side effects. Upon a visit to hospital it was found that this tube was kinked and therefore not working properly.

Whilst waiting for surgery to replace this tube, Mr F was losing weight and experiencing severe abdominal pain.

Following an X-ray, it was discovered that the siting of the feeding tube had penetrated his small bowel. Mr F then needed a further operation to remove the incorrectly sited tube and resection part of his bowel.  A further feeding tube had to be inserted.

The hospital failed to tell Mr F about the potential risks of these procedures and did not keep proper notes in his medical records as to why different types of feeding tubes were used. By inserting the tube into the wrong place Mr F had to undergo unnecessary surgery which had a significant impact on his already chronic health condition.

Amanda comments: “It’s shocking that someone, who already suffers from a chronic debilitating disease, has to endure yet more unnecessary pain and suffering because of a failure to correctly site a feeding tube, which is after all designed to keep them alive.  In this case not only did the unnecessary injury occur, there was a failure to identify the injury leading to a protracted period of further distress. I truly hope that lessons will be learnt as a result of this settlement which will prevent it happening again to someone else.”