Carl Marrows: 'Cover-up hid the truth' about boy's 1978 death
Marrows FamilyA father whose five-year-old son died after a 1978 operation claims a "cover-up" withheld the truth about his son's death for 43 years.
Carl Marrows, who had spina bifida, died from "massive blood loss" at Scunthorpe General Hospital.
A 1986 inquest concluded he died of natural causes but, on Thursday, a coroner found his death was the result of a "gross failure of care".
John Marrows said he was "disgusted" by what he now knew about his son's death.
"I thought he'd gone in, had the operation, there had been problems and he'd fallen asleep, but when I heard what he'd been put through in his last moments it was very difficult," he said.
"He could have still been with us, our two boys were little when all this happened, they're around 50 now and he could have been here with them."
Carl, who was born in 1972 in Scunthorpe, died in February 1978 following an operation to treat his spina bifida - a condition which affects spinal development.
Hull Coroner's Court heard that after the procedure his blood pressure began to drop and he died later the same day.
An initial post-mortem examination found he died from hemorrhagic shock, but the result was changed to "natural causes" in 1986 despite "no logical basis" the inquest heard.
Coroner Paul Marks said delays in treating Carl after the operation had contributed to his death.
Mr Marrows said: "You get to that stage of life where you need to re-evaluate things, so the Hull coroner found all the records and invited me there to have a look because there were things I didn't know.
"I was absolutely disgusted by what I was reading.. it was a cover-up."
Offering his "sincere condolences" Dr Peter Reading, chief executive of Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust, which was established in 2001, said he hoped the new inquest verdict would bring the family "some closure".
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