Woman died from complications after surgeries following a fall

Elaine Stella Kitson, of Walney, died on November 11 2023 in Furness General Hospital, where she had been an inpatient for six months.

Mrs Kitson, originally from London, was admitted to hospital in Barrow in January 2018 after suffering multiple injuries, including a fractured left femur, in a fall.

A statement submitted to the Coroner’s Court in Cockermouth by consultant orthopaedic and trauma surgeon Mr Knowles, who was involved in the latter stages of Ms Kitson’s care in 2023, outlined events concerning Mrs Kitson between her 2018 admission and her death.

He said doctors noted that her left femur fracture was ‘very slow to heal’ and decided to insert an internal fixation – a long nail with a metal plate to keep the bone in place while it healed.

Plans to remove the metalwork were made in August 2019 as scans showed some bone formation but she was deemed unfit for surgery due to poor control of her diabetes and was taken off the waiting list.

In 2022, Mrs Kitson complained of ongoing pain in the buttock area, which doctors put down to the metalwork causing irritation.

A planned operation to remove the nail was carried out on April 26, 2023, and she was deemed fit for discharge on May 3.

Mrs Kitson was readmitted ‘a few hours’ after her discharge as she had collapsed and scans showed that her 2018 femur fracture had not healed and was again displaced.

Mr Knowles’ statement said: “If my colleagues had known at the time that the fracture hadn't healed it would not have been removed.”

Doctors thought the best option to give Mrs Kitson a ‘definitive outcome’ would be a hip replacement which was carried out with ‘no complications’ by Mr Knowles on May 9.

Mr Knowles noted the surgical wound was not healing.

Various methods were used to hasten the healing of the wound, which became infected.

The wound was washed out twice when it was discovered that her hip was also infected.

Mr Knowles said despite ‘various periods where the wound appeared to be healing’ during the summer her infection markers were never low enough to discharge her.

On October 17 she underwent further surgery to remove the metalwork in a bid to battle the infection.

Mr Knowles said this was her ‘third or fourth major operation, and her soft tissue was very poor.’

After this, a temporary cement hip spacer that Mr Knowles had inserted had dislocated.

He said: “She had become extremely weary and was not keen to have anything else done.”

On October 31 he made a final attempt at ‘gentle manipulation’ of her hip, which was unsuccessful.

He said: “From an orthopaedic point of view, I had run out of options.”

Mrs Kitson’s condition was ‘greatly deteriorating’ and the decision was made to treat her palliatively as she was nearing the end of her life.

Area Coroner for Cumbria Kirsty Gomersal accepted a medical cause of death of sepsis caused by an infected hip implant.

She said: “There is no evidence to suggest that any of the surgery or procedures were incorrect.

“It is not surprising that Mrs Kitson became weary towards the end of her stay in hospital.

“She must have had a very uncomfortable and depressing time waiting for the fracture to heal and the infection to be overcome.”

Her narrative conclusion said: “Mrs Kitson died on November 11, 2023, following complications arising from multiple necessary surgical procedures for a non-healed fracture of the left femur and a persistent infection.“

A friend of Mrs Kitson, Helen Wilkes, told how she had met when they were neighbours in Tenerife when Mrs Kitson was 42 years old.

Mrs Kitson had a relationship with a Cumbrian holidaymaker and moved to the county to continue the relationship.

She last saw Mrs Kitson 27 years ago when she visited Mrs Wilkes in Birmingham but regularly kept in contact since then.

She said Mrs Kitson seemed ‘very alone and had no friends’.

Her statement said: “She had no-one to help her.

“She broke her leg and ended up in hospital – this is the point I never heard from her again.”