Earlier this year, news was able to tell the story of Sigrun, who died unexpectedly at OUS last spring. Sigrun worked for many years as a pastry chef, but received disability benefits in 2017 after a long hospital stay. Photo: Privat By then she had received three livers in 13 days. According to the hospital, the first liver she received was a so-called fatty liver, which she should not have received. The next two transplants were considered vital, but her state of health was so serious that she was treated further in the intensive care unit, where she died after complications with a breathing tube. The death in the intensive care unit was reported to the Norwegian Health Authority, but the complications that arose with the first liver transplant were not reported until the next of kin did so themselves. They also reported the case to Norwegian Patient Injury Compensation (NPE), and a short time ago came the conclusion: “In our assessment, there has been a failure in the treatment (…), which then led to the further course and the tragic outcome of death” , writes NPE. OUS refuses to answer The conclusion is based on an expert assessment from an expert outside the transplant environment in Norway, and has been commissioned by NPE to assess whether there is a basis for claiming compensation. news has been in contact with OUS and asked for an interview about the conclusion of the assessment, but the hospital refuses to ask and does not answer any of the questions that have been sent in writing. Sigrun was hospitalized several times. She had a liver transplant for the first time in 2010. In this picture from 2017, she was seriously ill in connection with an examination. Photo: Privat For treatment at the Norwegian Health Authority When news interviewed Morten Hagness, who is section chief at the Section for Transplantation Surgery at OUS, earlier this year, he did not want to go into details about what went wrong when Sigrun received the first liver as long as the case is under treatment at the Norwegian Health Authority. But he apologized for the strain the family has been exposed to in this case. He then said that the hospital has full responsibility for all treatment and all the assessments that were made during the process. – With the conclusion in hand, it is quite clear that the first transplant should not have been carried out, but the assessments along the way indicated that this would go well, Hagness said then. The case is still being processed by the Norwegian Health Authority. Hello! Do you have any input? Hi. Do you know of other matters within this field that we should investigate, or do you have something on your mind? Feel free to contact us by e-mail in the first instance. We have previously written about: – Non-optimal competence in expert assessment, which news has received access to, the expert writes that “a re-transplantation of a liver is often a technically demanding operation that places great demands on the surgeons. I don’t get the impression that the competence to perform the operation was optimal.” Furthermore, emphasis is placed on the fact that the liver was difficult to sew in. The NPE writes that this was most likely a sign that the organ was of poor quality or function, and that there were problems with blood flow. “That’s why you should have opened the wound, relieved the pressure on the blood vessel, examined the liver and then not sutured the abdominal wall. Had this been done, in our opinion it is most likely that the further course of deaths would have been avoided,” NPE writes in its assessment. – Very sad Ingve and Sigrun often traveled to warmer regions and planned for a long life together. Photo: Privat – It arouses a lot of emotion, says Ingve Marcussen. He was married to Sigrun for nearly 30 years and they had two children together. After the unexpected death, he was left with many unanswered questions. Among other things because Sigrun’s general condition was described as good when she arrived at the hospital to carry out the liver transplant. – You are in a way relieved, but it is also very painful, because this suggests that the death could perhaps have been avoided, he says. – Focusing on expertise Lawyer Janne Larsen from the law firm Roander & Co represents Sigrun’s survivors. Photo: Paal Wergeland / news Ingve says he is not looking to “take someone”, but hopes that the hospital takes this into account and recognizes that there may be potential for improvement here. – The most important thing now is that everyone aims to improve patient safety when it comes to liver transplants, he says. Lawyer Janne Larsen has undertaken to represent Ingve Marcussen in this case. She says that she is happy that an outside expert is coming to point out the deviations that have been made. – People have been concerned that it was an excessively large fatty liver that was the cause of what went wrong, but the fact that the expert is now focusing the spotlight on the surgical expertise of the section is new to us, says Larsen. Published 04/09/2024, at 18.47
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NPE points to a failure in the treatment – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
