A CORONER stopped an inquest into the death of a 60-year-old widow after her family alleged she had undergone an operation that was botched.

York coroner Donald Coverdale adjourned an inquest into the death of Carole Anne Bushby who died after she was found collapsed unconscious at her home in Pinelands, Haxby, on April 30, days after surgery.

An inquest at York Coroner's Court heard from Mrs Bushby's eldest son, Nigel Bushby, that the operation shortly before her death for pancreatic cancer had gone wrong, severing two main veins.

Mr Coverdale drew a halt to proceedings, saying he was unaware that there had been complications with Mrs Bushby's surgery.

The court heard from Dr Christine Bates, who oversaw the post-mortem examination. She said there had been no obvious signs as to the cause of Mrs Bushby's death and the patient had low blood pressure.

An examination of Mrs Bushby's brain was carried out at Leeds Hospital, which showed damage consistent with an epileptic seizure which caused brain injury and death.

But Mr Bushby said he did not accept his mother had died of epilepsy. He said: "She had two main veins cut during her operation because of a mistake and she nearly bled to death. We know that for a fact because the surgeon who carried it out told me. There is no family history of epilepsy and I just don't accept it."

Dr Bates said she was not aware of the complications with the operation and it would be difficult to say whether this might have had an impact.

Mr Bushby said he had been told by the surgeon, Mr Wingzou Wong, the veins had been severed during the operation and he had to remove veins from her thighs to replace them.

Mr Bushby said Mr Wong phoned him to say his mother had needed a further operation to put right a twisted bowel following her first operation.

He said: "It's easy just to say "epilepsy", but there's a lot of other circumstances behind this and I just want some truth, as it's been going on a long time."

Mr Coverdale said: "I am minded to adjourn this inquest to get a report from Mr Wong as there are clearly lines of further inquiry here. This has been going on for a long time, but the most important thing is we get it right and if we wait another month or six weeks then that's what we'll do."

Mr Coverdale adjourned the inquest saying a date would have to be set later, and the family would be kept informed when it was being brought back to court.

Updated: 09:51 Monday, March 13, 2006