No evidence of mistake during brain surgery

What happened

Mr A had brain surgery in 2011. After the surgery, he began to lose sensation in two of his fingers. Mr A was later referred to a hand specialist at a different organisation. He had treatment but this did not resolve the problem. Mr A was told the damage to his hand could only be repaired by reconstructive surgery.

Mr A complained that the permanent damage to his hand was caused during his brain surgery. He believed that his arms were not protected by the anaesthetist. Mr A told us that the Trust had not acknowledged its mistake or provided treatment for this injury. Mr A is no longer resident in the UK and is not entitled to ongoing NHS care so he wanted the Trust to provide the necessary treatment or pay for him to have private surgery in his own country.

What we found

There was no evidence that a mistake was made during Mr A's surgery. The records confirmed that Mr A's arms were correctly protected while he was under anaesthetic. The Trust had provided a reasonable explanation about what happened in response to Mr A's complaint.

It was very unlikely that Mr A's hand condition resulted from his brain surgery because there were other more likely explanations for his condition.

We did not uphold this complaint.