Retired man died of natural causes, inquest hears

A retired man died of natural causes a day after undergoing an operation, an inquest into his death has revealed.
Centenary House in DurringtonCentenary House in Durrington
Centenary House in Durrington

John Ross Urquhart, 90, from Bay Walk, Bognor Regis, died on December 30 at St Richards hospital in Chichester.

An inquest into his death was held at Centenary House in Worthing on Tuesday (October 4).

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Mr Urquhart had been admitted to hospital in September 2015 and had suffered a bowel obstruction before developing pneumonia and a hernia.

He recovered from the pneumonia and was forwarded onto Dr Harris, a surgeon at St Richards Hospital, in December 2015, where it was decided they would operate on him to remove the hernia that had been causing him considerable pain.

This surgery took place at St Richards Hospital on December 29.

The following day (December 30), Mr Urquhart experienced a catastrophic fall in his blood pressure and it was believed that he was experiencing a cardiac arrest.

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A post mortem examination into Mr Urquart’s death found that he had suffered a rupture to his spleen - not an area that was operated on - leading to his death.

The post mortem examination concluded Mr Urquhart had died of an intra abdominal haemorrhage due to hypersplenism and a myeloproliferative disorder.

West Sussex assistant coroner Karen Henderson returned a conclusion of death by natural causes in respect to Mr Urquhart’s death and the link between the surgery and his death was merely coincidental.

Ms Henderson believed there was no evidence to suggest that the surgery had caused Mr Urquhart’s death.

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