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Docs Missed Fatal Toilet Brush in Drunk's Butt

British woman dies because of hospital blunder

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted May 20, 2010 4:23 AM CDT

(Newser) – A British woman died because doctors failed to notice that she had a 6-inch piece of toilet brush—the handle part, not the brush part—embedded in her buttock after a drunken fall, an inquest found. It took 2 years for doctors to discover the source of the woman's chronic pain, by which time it had become embedded in her pelvis, making surgery difficult and dangerous.

After two unsuccessful operations to remove the brush, the 35-year-old mother died from complications during a third operation, the Telegraph reports. Her husband plans to sue the local health authority, which the coroner ruled was responsible for a "serious failure." The coroner said he had no doubt that the woman would be alive today if doctors had made more extensive examinations earlier instead of sending her home with painkillers when an initial X-ray failed to spot anything.

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"The failure to pursue further enquiries was a serious failure," the coroner said. "If further examinations had been carried out I have no doubt Mrs Corton would be here today." (Shutter Stock)

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It was a significant foreign object. It is difficult to image anything more significant. - West Lincolnshire coroner Stuart Fisher

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Docs Missed Fatal Toilet Brush in Drunk's Butt

British woman dies because of hospital blunder

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