AN INQUEST jury has heard an elderly woman who died of sepsis might have survived if she had undergone surgery to treat her constipation.

The hearing into the death of Christina Withey, 70, at the Great Western Hospital on September 15, 2015, was told that a post mortem examination showed she died after her bowel was perforated, leading to faecal peritonitis, five days after she was admitted with abdominal pain.

Consultant colorectal surgeon Paul Durdey, who was asked by the coroner to provide a report to the inquest in Salisbury said in his experience cases like Mrs Withey’s were extremely rare.

He said: “In this situation it is extremely difficult. I would not have expected the team to make this diagnosis because it is so rare. Clearly if the diagnosis had been made that this was a bowel problem, then surgery would have been instituted.”

However he did say: “I think there are some deficiencies highlighted in the record keeping, some discrepancies in antibiotic usage. Ideally she should have been seen by a senior member of the team on a daily basis.”

He said the lack of record keeping in relation to the amount of fluids Mrs Withey had been given could also be criticised.

And there was a failure to appreciate lactate test results, which he said indicated the sepsis was becoming serious.

Mr Durdey said in his view her constipation had been going on for much longer than the six days suggested when she was admitted.

He explained that as a result of the faecal mass in her colon, the blood flow to the protective mucus and bowel wall had been cut off, allowing harmful bacteria to seep into her peritoneal cavity.

But there was no evidence of peritonitis and he believed the perforation happened between the night of the 14th and the following morning when there was a dramatic deterioration in her condition. And even if there had been surgical intervention on the 15th it was difficult to see any different outcome.

Had a CT scan been ordered it still might not have picked up the damage to the bowel wall.

Asked what action he would have taken he said: “It is easy for me with hindsight. For the clinician on the ground it was a very tricky problem and certainly not one I’ve seen before.”

But asked by the family’s barrister Kriti Upadhyay if Mrs Withey would have survived had there been a surgical review and CT scan on the 13th, he said that on the balance of probabilities she would.

He wasn’t sure if the diagnosis would have been made if the tests were carried out, but further investigation might have led to an operation called a laparotomy, just to find out what was happening.

The inquest is expected to conclude today.