Post-brain op delays 'left man needing 24/7 care'

Hospital failings have been blamed after a man suffered brain and sight damage following an operation, and now relies on his parents for care, lawyers say.

David Bown believes delayed scans and surgical intervention, following the removal of a brain tumour at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust (UHCW), led to irreversible neurological damage.

The 41-year-old, from Atherstone, Warwickshire, is also among a series of patients who received chemotherapy drug temozolomide for too long. He was prescribed it for eight years, despite guidelines saying six months is the usual limit.

The trust said it was committed to providing the safest possible care for patients.

Law firm Brabners said it was representing more than 30 patients, including Bown, who say they received temozolomide for far longer recommended - with one patient prescribed it for 16 years.

The former IT manager, who had the brain tumour operation in 2016, said: "I cry myself to sleep at night.

"I dream where I can see and then I wake up and I can't see. It's a nightmare."

Within 48 hours of his operation he should have had an MRI scan, which lawyers claim would have highlighted life-threatening complications.

But he did not have any scan for four days and then – when the results came back – they kept him on the ward and requested another scan rather than send him to a theatre for emergency surgery.

At some point after this he had a stroke. Lawyers claim he was not taken for surgery again until 6 June 2016, when he became comatose.

Later he was prescribed temozolomide and was still taking it as late as 2024.

Guidelines recommend six cycles – normally over six months - or a maximum of 12, particularly for low-grade gliomas.

The Warwickshire man now lives at home with his parents in Atherstone where he relies on them for everyday tasks like preparing meals and taking medication.

His father Steve said: "I would like to see all those people, the surgeons, the other doctors there, ward nurses, I would like to line them up against a wall and say 'this is what you did to my son'."

All patients who received temozolomide for too long were treated under the supervision of Prof Ian Brown, who has now retired.

"David was a young man with his whole future ahead of him," said Brabners partner Fiona Tinsley.

"The cumulative effect of these failings has robbed him of his independence, his health and years of his life."

The Royal College of Physicians has been commissioned by UHCW to carry out an independent review of 20 patients who received greater than 12 cycles of adjuvant temozolomide, between 2017 and 2023.

In a statement, the trust said: "We are committed to providing the safest possible care for our patients. As a legal claim is ongoing, we are unable to comment further at this stage."

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