‘My mum bled to death because the NHS said she was too old to have routine op’
A great-grandmother bled to death because NHS rationing meant she could not have an emergency operation on a varicose vein.
Cynthia Butcher, 94, had a golf ball-size lump on her left leg and was referred by her GP to A&E last April with an urgent note that said it “may bleed catastrophically imminently”.
When she arrived in A&E at Basildon Hospital, Essex, medics said they could not do a routine op to remove it because she was “over 70”. She was sent home to be visited by a community nurse.
On the evening of May 27, while waiting to get a date for the procedure, the lump burst.
Cynthia pressed a panic button but a warden was not on duty at her sheltered flats, so paramedics were locked out until one arrived.
Her daughter Lynda Clements said: “My mother died alone in her flat waiting for help, desperately trying to stem the blood. She lost at least four pints.
“Paramedics resuscitated her, but she had suffered massive brain damage.
“She died in hospital where, this time, they did everything to keep her alive. This must have cost thousands yet all she originally needed was a minor operation. It would have taken 10 minutes to lance the lump under local anaesthetic.”
Lynda added: “My mother was the matriarch of a large dynasty. There is just a numbness. Our family has been blown apart. We will never be the same again.
“My mother didn’t need any assistance and was a young 94-year-old. Her heart was still strong. We have been robbed of precious months or years with her.”
The week before Cynthia died a specialist had agreed with her GP that the operation had to be done. However she was still not given a date.
Basildon Hospital told the Mirror that by the time of her death Cynthia had been placed on a waiting list. The family say it was only after her death that Cynthia got a letter confirming she could have the operation, set for June 13.
Ops previously routine are now being rationed by the NHS across much of the country because of a funding squeeze.
Recent analysis revealed around half of Clinical Commissioning Groups are rationing procedures such as cataract surgery, and hip and knee replacements.
Many patients are refused treatments due to factors such as age or weight.
Widow Cynthia had four children, 11 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Most lived near her in Aveley, Essex.
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