A man suffered extensive burns when his mouth and face caught fire during a routine surgery
A man suffered extensive burns when his mouth and face caught fire during a routine surgery
3 July 2023
A Health and Disability report found a specialist failed in his care of a man in his 70s with benign growths in his mouth in 2020.
The surgeon cut tissue using an electrical current at the end of the surgery - but the anaesthetists hadn't yet reduced oxygen levels.
A fire ignited in the man's airways.
He was discharged three weeks later, but developed respiratory issues, later developed laryngeal cancer - and died last year.
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