Surgeon criticised for his part in man's death

2:06am Saturday 13th October 2007

A CONSULTANT surgeon has been criticised for his part in the death of a man who stabbed himself in the heart with a steak knife.

John Gordon Stephen "accelerated" the death of patient, Alan Dunn, at Darlington Memorial Hospital, during a procedure to remove the knife, an inquest heard.

Mr Stephen, who said he was acting in Mr Dunn's best interests, faced manslaughter charges following the incident on December 10, 2005. The charges were dropped in October last year.

Yesterday, the five-day inquest was concluded by Durham Coroner, Andrew Tweddle, at Chester-le-Street Magistrates' Court.

Mr Tweddle said the knife had been in Mr Dunn's heart when it was removed 90 minutes after Mr Dunn's suicide bid.

In this time, Mr Tweddle said, Mr Dunn was rendered "haemodynamically normal", which experts say made him suitable for a hospital transfer.

Earlier in the week, medical experts testified it was "established medical dogma" to leave the knife in and transfer to a specialist heart unit.

Mr Tweddle also said there had been no provision to carry out an emergency thoracotomy or an incision into the chest. The procedure would have enabled the removal of the knife, plugging of the hole it left, and massage of the heart in the event of an arrest.

In a statement detailing the circumstances of Mr Dunn's death, Mr Tweddle said: "There was no plan in place to deal with any sudden deterioration of Mr Dunn's condition upon the withdrawal of the knife.

"Mr Dunn arrested within a couple of minutes of the knife being removed from the chest. His death was, on a balance of probabilities, accelerated by the effect of the removal of the knife."

Mr Dunn was discovered by his wife, Coleen, at their home in Barrington Terrace, Ferryhill, County Durham.

The 60-year-old hospital porter and former miner had been suffering from depression.

Before delivering his verdict, Mr Tweddle said: "One of the benefits of this inquest has been to expose to public scrutiny the circumstances surrounding Mr Dunn's death of which Mr Stephen played a part.

"I must stress beyond doubt that this has not been Mr Stephen on trial. This has been to find out what happened and he was just a player in that story."

After the hearing, Lee Dunn, Mr Dunn's eldest son, said he hoped lessons could be learned.

"I was happy to hear that the coroner acknowledged there should have been a 'plan b' in place," he said. "I think that they should be wondering whether taking a patient with a stab wound to the chest from Ferryhill to Darlington, rather than straight to James Cook [heart unit in Middlesbrough] is the right procedure."

Mr Stephen, 63, of The Willows, Bishop Auckland, County Durham, retired earlier this year after 26 years with the County Durham and Darlington Acute Hospital Trust.

He said: "I am glad that nearly two years after Mr Dunn's tragic death, the inquest is completed. I would like, once again, to extend my sympathies to Mr Dunn's family. At all times, I was acting in the best interests of Mr Dunn."

The cause of death was recorded as a stab wound to the heart.