A MAN who suffered blood loss from a kidney laceration died from a complication following a necessary surgical procedure, a coroner concluded.

Frederick Bales, 81, of Abergavenny, died at the Royal Gwent Hospital on October 16 2011, 11 days after undergoing the last of a series of nephrostomies - the insertion of a tube to drain a blocked kidney.

Gwent's deputy coroner Wendy James was told Mr Bales, a London-born retired architectural metal fitter, first suffered a kidney problem six months previously, had been hospitalised due to kidney blockages on four occasions prior to his death, and that doctors had been unable to pinpoint the reason.

Nephrostomy tubes were fitted to both kidneys on October 5 after previous tubes had been dislodged. Mr Bales became unwell immediately afterwards, but responded to antibiotic treatment.

His wife Doris and their daughter Carol Gurney became concerned when they visited him on subsequent days about what appeared to be blood in drainage bags from the tubes.

This had been particularly noticeable on the afternoon of October 15, after they had taken Mr Bales from his ward to the hospital canteen, and they had informed nursing staff.

Mr Bales died at 6.20am the following day after suffering a cardiac arrest. His condition had deterioriated from around 5.30am.

Mrs Bales told the inquest she had found it difficult to talk to doctors about her husband's condition and had asked if cancer was a possibility some four months before he died.

Both she and Mrs Gurney said the appearance of blood in the drainage bags was worrying and on the last occasion they had been told it was worse that time because he had been moving around, as they had taken him to the canteen.

Consultant urologist Mr Chris Bates, who had overall responsibility for Mr Bales' case said that was a reasonable explanation.

He was it was logical the laceration could have been caused by the nephrostomy on October 5.

He also said cancer had been undetected prior to the post mortem examination because there was no obvious mass that showed up on a scan to indicate its presence.

Consultant pathologist Dr Ian Thompson, who conducted the post mortem examination, said shock due to blood loss was the first cause of death, but Mr Bales had several other health problems, including hypertension, that contributed.

He had lost a pint or two of blood from the laceration, which given his poor health his body would have been unable to cope with, and this blood was most likely from a fresh bleed that may have been a result of infection.

Giving her narrative verdict, Miss James said no surgical procedure is without risk and her verdict was that Mr Bales died as a result of a complication of a necessary surgical procedure.