A MAN who suffers from an incurable digestive disease is to take legal action against a hospital after developing a leak in his bowel which left him vomiting blood and faeces and needing hospital care for a year.

Graeme Cross, 31, from Richmond, North Yorkshire, was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in 2003. The incurable condition involves the body’s immune system attacking the digestive organs, which can cause severe inflammation, pain and other complications.

His symptoms were severe enough to need medication and surgery to manage his condition.

Mr Cross's treatment was initially cared for at Darlington Memorial Hospital, but while his surgeon was abroad in 2012 his care was transferred to James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough.

He started to suffer severe abdominal pain, which was thought to be a bowel obstruction, and underwent surgery in July 2012, following which he suffered an internal leak in his bowel which was not detected for nine days.

The day after his operation he felt a sudden, searing pain in his abdomen, causing him to scream out in pain.

Over the following hours he developed a large swelling in his abdomen and experienced severe crushing pain. For about a week he was vomiting blood and faeces and repeatedly had to ask for pain relief.

Surgeons performed urgent surgery and found a leak in his bowel. But he had already developed life-threatening sepsis and his parents were told he may not survive the following 24 hours.

His damaged bowel was removed and he was left with a stoma. After time in intensive care and the high dependency unit he was discharged. But his solicitors say he was sent home with a wound partially opened and three days later was readmitted with a wound infection.

Mr Cross suffered from numerous infections and was eventually discharged from hospital care on June 1, 2013. Since then he has required further lengthy surgery, taking muscle from his thigh to try and reconstruct his abdomen.

He continues to struggle with the psychological impact of the events of his surgery in 2012.

Mr Cross has now instructed specialist medical negligence lawyers at Irwin Mitchell to investigate the standard of care that he received at South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and establish why the leak was not detected and treated earlier.

His solicitors say his health remains fragile and in addition to numerous physical problems, Mr Cross has been diagnosed with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder related to his experiences.

He said: “The pain when I was being moved the day after surgery was just agony and over the next few days I believed I was going to die. It was clear to me that something was seriously wrong and it was frightening that no one appeared to take this seriously.

“It’s clearly a sensitive and sometimes embarrassing illness when you have bowel problems but instead of protecting my dignity, the general care I received left me feeling humiliated and dismissed.”

No comment has yet been made available from South Tees Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.