A PENSIONER died after a surgeon mistakenly attempted to remove the wrong organ during keyhole surgery, an inquest heard yesterday.

Amy Joyce Francis was admitted to the city’s Royal Gwent Hospital on July 21, 2010, for an operation to remove her right kidney, after she was diagnosed with cancer.

However experienced surgeon Dr Adam Carter tried to remove her liver by mistake and she died as a result of internal bleeding and heart trauma.

Newport Coroner’s Court heard how Dr Carter was unable to see inside Mrs Francis during the procedure as a camera would not have been able to see in a cavity of that size, so he was dependent only on what he could feel through a small incision.

“I felt a solid organ and I pulled it,” said consultant urologist Dr Carter.

He explained how he had arranged for the 77-year-old to have keyhole surgery to remove the kidney, which is a minimum invasive technique.

He said the normal procedure is to safely mobilise the organ from its blood vessels, before an incision is made, to “grab hold” of it and take it out.

Dr Carter said the first part of the operation was “uneventful”, however, problems occurred when a trainee working alongside him initially said she was happy to try to remove the kidney, but then became uncomfortable.

He said while she was manipulating it, a hole in the peritoneal membrane could have occurred, causing the liver to become more accessible.

Dr Carter, who had carried out the procedure 116 times before, said he took over, but accidentally pulled Mrs Francis’ liver.

“The liver wasn’t only torn, it was pulled away from its major attachments,” he said.

“It was my responsibility I should have known where the kidney was.”

Recording a narrative verdict, Gwent coroner David Bowen, said Mrs Francis’ liver was “catastrophically torn and damaged”, which resulted in her death from internal bleeding and heart trauma.

Some time after the operation Mrs Francis was due to have radiotherapy in her other kidney to cure a less serious cancer and, despite her health battles, her family said she was “seemed as young as ever”.

A spokesman for Aneurin Bevan Health Board said after the hearing that a full investigation was undertaken following Mrs Francis’ death, and subsequently Mr Carter shared the details of the circumstances that arose during this operation with other colleagues nationally, this is so they were also aware.

“We fully accept the verdict of the coroner in this extremely tragic case and our thoughts are with her family and friends,” he said.

Speaking after the inquest, Mrs Francis’ son Alan, 52, said they were pleased a lesson had been learned from his mother’s death.

“We were angry but I suppose time is a great healer.We appreciate the surgeon’s honesty and admitting his error,”

he said.

Mr Francis said his mother, who was a widow, had lived in the St Julians area of Newport most of her life after being born in Preston in 1932.

She worked as a book keeper and had enjoyed good health up until her death.