Warwickshire man died during clinical trial, inquest hears

[dutchman]

A father-of-three died while taking part in a clinical trial during knee surgery, an inquest has been told.



Luigi Belcuore, from Morton Bagot in Warwickshire, had agreed to the trial while having elective surgery on his right knee to repair cartilage damage.

But he suddenly died during the operation in October 2009 at Oswestry Orthopaedic Hospital in Shropshire, the jury heard.

The 43-year-old may have suffered an air embolism, the inquest was told.

He died almost instantly.

Coroner John Ellery told the inquest at Shrewsbury Magistrates Court, Mr Belcuore had been fit and healthy but was having problems with his right knee.

He had been taking part in a 10-year trial which involved growing cartilage cells inside damaged knees.

Mr Belcuore had a small hole or lesion in his cartilage.

Surgeons at Oswestry were trialling growing a patient's own cartilage cells inside their lesions to see if the long term outcome was better than other treatments.

The problem came when surgeons tried to get the blood to clot, the inquest heard.

Air was pumped into the knee to dry the blood, which surgeon Professor James Richardson said was not an unusual or particularly risky thing to do.

The hearing, at Shrewsbury Magistrates' Court, has been adjourned until Tuesday.

[dutchman]

A jury has come to a narrative verdict at the inquest of a Warwickshire who died while having knee surgery during a clinical trial.

Businessman, Luigi Belcuore, from Morton Bagot, near Studley, known to family and friends as Louis, had agreed to participate in the project back in October 2009.

During day surgery at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic and District Hospital NHS Trust in Oswestry, Mr Belcuore died.

A jury came to the verdict just over an hour after starting deliberations at Shrewsbury Magistrates Court.

Victoria Blankstone, a medical negligence solicitor with law firm Irwin Mitchell, who are representing Mr Belcuore’s family, said: “At the time of his death, Louis was a devoted husband and father to his two young children.”

“His widow, Penny, who had their third child last year, very much hopes that the inquest will shed light on the circumstances which led to her husband’s tragic death.”

[dutchman]

Studley fatal knee op family awarded settlement

A HIGH Court judge has awarded an undisclosed settlement to the family of a Warwickshire man who died during a botched knee operation.

Luigi 'Louis' Belcuore, of Morton Bagot, near Studley, died during surgery to remove cartilage from his knee at a Shropshire hospital in October 2009.

His widow, Penny Belcuore, speaking after the hearing at the High Court in Birmingham today, said it had been “a long slog”.

She added: “I’m relieved today is over and it’s finally come to an end.”

Mr Belcuore, a 43-year-old businessman, was being treated for a worn cartilage when the operation went drastically wrong as air got into his blood vessels, causing an embolism.

The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital in Oswestry, which was ordered to pay the undisclosed sum, has previously apologised to the family.