Pensioner died in hospital

From the archive, first published Wednesday 8th Feb 2006.

AN operation to cure lung congestion may have contributed to the death of a retired Hartford accountant, an inquest has heard.

Former ICI employee Peter Gordon Crutchley, of Eaglesfield, died at Leighton Hospital on April 28, 2004 after being admitted with a urinary tract infection 10 days earlier.

But the inquest at Crewe Magistrates' Court on Friday heard the post mortem examination carried out on the 74-year-old determined the cause of death as adult respiratory distress syndrome, which may have been related to an earlier operation to combat a build-up of fluid in the pleura.

Daughter Helen Harrison said her father had never fully recovered from a November 2004 infection and his health worsened following the pleura biopsy and talc pleurodesis - where an irritant is placed between the lining of the chest wall and lung so no space is left for fluid to accumulate - at Wythenshawe Hospital on February 9 after doctors suspected he could have cancer.

Recording a verdict of natural death, Cheshire coroner Nicholas Rheinberg said he found it difficult to determine a cause of death, after hearing respiratory complications were rare following pleura procedures.

He added: "My finding is that the cause of death is adult respiratory distress syndrome, of unknown origin, with escemic heart disease a contributing factor."

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