Health Service Commissioner : Second report for Session 1981-82 : Selected investigations completed October 1981-March 1982.

  • Great Britain. Health Services Commissioner.
Date:
1982
Catalogue details

Licence: Open Government Licence

Credit: Health Service Commissioner : Second report for Session 1981-82 : Selected investigations completed October 1981-March 1982. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    4. The complainant wrote to the administrator at the hospital on 16 September 1981 explaining that her teeth had been broken while she was under anaesthetic. She said that the teeth had cost her £96 in the previous July and she asked who would compensate her for their replacement and what procedure she should follow. The assistant area administrator (the AAA) told her in a letter dated 1 October that while she was recovering from the anaesthetic she had bitten hard on an airway that had been placed in her mouth. A member of the nursing staff had heard the teeth break and had quickly removed the broken pieces in order to prevent her swallowing them. He expressed regret that the damage had occurred, but said that the AHA were ‘unable to accept any responsibility in the matter’. The complainant was dissatisfied with the reply and wrote to the AAA saying that she could not accept the explanation and suggesting that the anaesthetist should have taken some precaution to prevent the incident. On 23 October the AAA replied that there was nothing he could add to his earlier letter and that the AHA could not accept any responsibility. 5. The complainant told my officer that on the day of the operation, immediately before receiving pre-operative medication, she was asked by a member of the ward staff whether she wore dentures. She replied that she had three capped teeth and she saw the nurse write down this information. (I have seen the ‘pre-operative list? on which is recorded ‘3 upper front crowned teeth’.) She said that on waking up in the recovery room of the operating theatre she vaguely recalled being told by a nurse that her teeth had been. broken ; and she also remembered being told so later on, when she had returned to the ward, by a man she thought to be the anaesthetist. She told my Officer that the teeth concerned had been supplied in July 1981 at a cost of £96 and she showed him a bill for the subsequent repair work in the sum of £90. This was hand-written on A5 writing paper bearing the name and address of the dental practice; and it was not clear whether it was for National Health Service or private work. 6. I have seen the AHA’s accident and action reports which record the nature and cause of the accident and the extent of the injuries as: ‘2 broken capped front upper molars’ and ‘no negligence—patient bit hard on airway whilst in spasm during recovery from anaesthesia. If no airway had been in place she would have had difficulty in breathing. . . . On hearing the crack- ing sound [the nurse] removed the crowns as patient was in danger of inhaling same as she was still unconscious.’ 7. The nurse referred to in the accident and action reports told my officer that the breakage had occurred about two and a half minutes after the com- plainant had come into the recovery area. She thought it was because the com- plainant experienced a spasm during her recovery. She said she had reported the incident to the nurse in charge of the theatre and to the nursing officer. She showed my officer an airway similar to that used for the complainant; it was mainly of soft plastic but had a hard plastic mouthpiece. 8. The anaesthetist told my officer that before starting the complainant’s anaesthesia he had been told by the nursing staff that some of her teeth were capped and had seen the record in her notes. He said it had become
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