Concerns have been raised regarding a surgeon’s supposed “lack of reflection” following the death of a North East dad. Neil Pentland died at the age of 53 after an operation went wrong at Sunderland Royal Hospital in 2025.
The “deeply-loved” Houghton-le-Spring dad and engineer fell ill with a bowel condition called diverticulitis in April last year. As previously reported by Chronicle Live, Mr Pentland attended A&E on April 26 and underwent emergency surgery that evening to remove a section of his large bowel.
However, in the early hours of the next day, the “join” – formally called an anastomosis – had leaked. This led to sepsis and despite two further surgeries, Mr Pentland died on April 29.
Consultant Rachael Coates led a procedure which would have avoided the need for Mr Pentland to have a stoma afterwards. However, independent expert Prof David Jayne told the inquest that while her decision was “reasonable”, “the majority” of surgeons would not have taken the course she did and that instead a so-called “Hartmann” procedure to remove some of the organ and create stoma would have been preferred.
On the second day of the inquest at Sunderland Coroner’s Court, executive medical director at South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust, Dr Shaz Wahid gave evidence. Senior coroner David Place told Dr Wahid he had “concerns” about Ms Coates’ “lack of reflection” during her evidence.
The coroner said: “I am concerned about [Ms Coates’] lack of reflection. I felt there was a passing of the buck.” The coroner made reference to asking Ms Coates if she would have done anything differently.
He said: “I was struck with her answer of ‘I would not do this at Sunderland Royal Hospital’, the implication is ‘I would do it somewhere else’.” He added it was an “issue of surgeon decision making” rather than failings of the hospital.
Dr Wahid replied that he would “completely disagree” with Ms Coates’ comments. During his evidence, Dr Wahid added that there had also been a “failure in communication” between teams.
Consultant general surgeon Mike Kipling also gave evidence at the inquest. When considering the number of surgeries Mr Pentland underwent, the coroner told Mr Kipling he had concerns that there was no “swallowing of pride” and more “worrying about reputational damage” rather than considering the right outcome for Mr Pentland.
He said: “The impression I get is there was a determination to finish the proposed operation rather than looking at complications as they arose and making decisions. Would you agree?”
Mr Kipling replied: “Surgeons are determined people, that’s why we do what we do, we live in horrendous risk. There does need to be a drive to achieve a goal, but also adult flexibility and recognition when things are futile or going the wrong way. A sign of [surgical] maturity is to go ‘OK, the plan is not working’ and doing something different, which can be a difficult decision to make.”
The coroner said: “My concern was not swallowing pride and worrying about reputational damage rather than the right outcome for Neil. Was it continuing within the skillset or placing Neil at risk because of what was happening?”
Mr Kipling replied: “Continuing, in my opinion, in the vein that was being followed, was probably not appropriate.” He added that Ms Coates’ was “striving for a good outcome” for Mr Pentland.
The inquest continues, and is set to conclude on Friday.