Heart ward `known as killing fields'

THE FATHER of a baby who died after heart surgery at the Bristol Royal Infirmary told a public inquiry yesterday that he would never have allowed the operation to go ahead if he had known the true risks.

Michael Parsons, whose daughter Mia died on the operating table in May 1993, aged 11 months, criticised the hospital and its staff for failing his daughter, showing insensitivity to the family's distress and for covering up its poor record in paediatric cardiac surgery.

Since her death, he said he had learned that the paediatric surgical department had for years been referred to by doctors in the South-west as the "Killing Fields", a reference to the film about the carnage of war in Cambodia.

However, two other fathers giving evidence on the second day of the inquiry into the Bristol baby deaths commended the skill of the surgeons and the care shown by the hospital staff. Their children, who are both doing well, are among 2,000 being examined by the inquiry who underwent complex heart operations over 11 years between 1984 and 1995.

Mr Parsons' daughter, who was born with Down's syndrome, had a hole in her heart. The surgery to correct it was carried out by James Wisheart, the senior surgeon who was struck off the medical register last year by the General Medical Council after its investigation.

Before the operation, Mr Wisheart had told Mr Parsons, a kite maker from West Wales, and his wife Pauline, that there was a 20 per cent risk of Mia dying as a result. They were so impressed by his caring approach that even though she died, they sent him a thank you letter for doing all he could. But last June, five years after their daughter's death, the couple discovered from a BBC Panorama programme, shown after the GMC case, that Mr Wisheart's death rate was closer to 50 per cent.

Mr Parsons said he found it "incomprehensible" that the cardiologist who diagnosed Mia had referred her to Mr Wisheart knowing his poor success rate. "Had he told us the truth we would never have agreed to the referral. I maintain my consent was obtained by giving me deliberately false information. In my view that is criminal."

On the day of the operation the hospital committed a series of blunders. Nurses failed to give Mia sufficient drugs to sedate her and she screamed so loudly when injected with the anaesthetic that her parents were shocked. Later, news of her death was broken to them on a public ward, causing distress to another parent and her child. The Parsons were ushered into a "junk room" to say goodbye to their daughter, who appeared dressed in unfamiliar clothes, and were then hustled from the hospital.

"The way they treated us after the death was inept, unfeeling and thoughtless. Had it been handled differently I think Pauline and I would be far less hurt than we are today. Our memories of Bristol are all of pain," Mr Parsons said.

The couple cremated their daughter but learned only a few weeks ago that six years later the hospital still has her heart, which was removed at the post mortem examination.

Mr Parsons had harsh words for the GMC whose inquiry he had heard about only after it had ended. His daughter's case had been included, anonymously, because the council had been unable to trace the family. "Their efforts to contact us were a farce," he said.

But, Philip Wagstaff, 34, a Customs and Excise officer from Devon, said he had been impressed by the skill and care shown to his daughter, despite the complications that followed her surgery. Amy, who was born with holes in her heart, had an operation in 1993 by Mr Wisheart, next day she required emergency surgery to remove a blood clot but has since made a good recovery.

Mr Wagstaff said: "Mr Wisheart came across as a very caring man. He took time to explain the problem to us and what he was going to do. He was very open with us and was aware that as parents it was very frightening. We were confident in his abilities."

He added that the nurses had also been caring and supportive.

The inquiry continues.