10-Year-Old Dies After Botched Operation To Remove Kidney Stones

A 10-year-old "healthy" boy in England died after doctors allegedly botched his routine operation to remove kidney stones, an inquest heard Monday. According to reports, Luke Glendenning was admitted to a hospital for surgery on Nov. 6, 2017, but complications during the procedure killed him 72 hours later.

During a hearing, it was revealed that the doctors had difficulty accessing Luke's left kidney, and a large amount of fluid emerged around his organs causing internal bleeding, the Daily Mail reported.

In a statement read out in court, his distraught mother Sue Hirst, 35, said she has "serious concerns" about "what should have been a routine procedure." Following the first surgery, Luke endured five more surgeries and was put on life support.

"We have serious concerns as a family, regarding the death of Luke," his mother said. "He was a fit and able young man who's lost his life after what should have been a routine procedure...I cannot come to terms with the fact he has died. He was my only child. I miss him dearly, it has left a massive hole in our lives."

Dr. Nasim Tahir, a pediatric radiologist at Leeds Children's Hospital, who oversaw the surgery on Nov. 6, 2017, explained Wakefield Coroners' Court, West Yorks, that the operation involved inserting a camera into Luke's kidney and then using a laser to break the stones down and remove them. While only one puncture is usually made during the surgery, surgeons had to make six punctures into Luke's kidney in order to create space for the camera.

"There was no way of knowing for sure that we would encounter the difficulty that we did on the day," Tahir said. "It's not as if you can plan the whole procedure beforehand."

Tahir said the doctors discussed if the operation should be aborted after five failed attempts at making a hole.

"The decision to carry on was because we had already done the trickiest bits," he said, according to the Daily Mail. "I don't think it was an excessive amount of punctures and there was nothing to indicate we were doing more harm than good. Even now I would do the exact same as what I did then."

Nearly five hours into the operation, doctors noticed Luke was unable to maintain his blood pressure, the court heard. His legs had gone pale and he had suffered a rectal prolapse and a distended abdomen, doctors said. He also had contracted compartment syndrome, a condition affecting the muscles which can result in death.

Luke's abnormally formed kidney made it difficult for doctors to remove all the stones.

Tests that were conducted on Luke revealed that he had fluid in his lungs and chest and he underwent another surgery to remove his left kidney. His third operation took place under 24 hours in the early hours of Nov. 7, 2017, this time to try and drain some of the fluid from his body.

However, doctors were also struggling to find Luke's pulse and he was taken back for another surgery to remove the packs that were placed to drain the fluid, which surgeons believed may have affected his breathing.

However, Luke's heart stopped beating and he underwent a sixth and final operation to try and restart it, after which he was placed on life support. The family took the decision to take him off life support on Nov. 9, 2017.

The boy's mother blamed the doctors for not warning her of the possible complications of the operation.

"I still don't understand why doing nothing was not a viable option when Luke had no symptoms? He wasn't suffering so why not just leave and monitor him?" the mother said. "We were 'sold' the procedure as it was the least invasive with the quicker recovery time — not necessarily the case if Luke would have needed to undergo two or three procedures."

Speaking at the inquest at Wakefield Coroners' Court, Hirst questioned whether her son should have been subjected to a dangerous surgery in the first place.

"I did say to a doctor at the time that we didn't feel like we had the option to do nothing," she said. "There was not really an option just to sit back and monitor Luke. He was just leading a normal, healthy life. Do you not think there should have been an option to do nothing?"