Inquest: No sepsis in woman’s knee before death, doctors said

At least three doctors concluded a retired teacher did not have an infected knee before she died of pneumonia, an inquest has heard.

Nesta Jones, 77, died more than a month after first being admitted to hospital.

Orthopaedic surgeon Mayur Chawda said junior doctors’ assessments at Ysbyty Gwynedd guided his views on treatment.

Mr Chawda told the hearing in Caernarfon on Monday that Mrs Jones’ case was discussed at a trauma meeting five days after she was first admitted to the hospital in Bangor, north Wales.

He said details of Mrs Jones, from Anglesey, would have been presented by the junior doctors who assessed her, and that would have guided his views on treatment.

Mr Chawda said three other members of the orthopaedic team had seen her and “concluded that it was not septic arthritis” in her knee.

He said he asked for the views of the surgeon who carried out a knee joint replacement on Mrs Jones two years earlier at the hospital.

The consultant said that if there had been any failings, it had been not to discuss the risks faced by Mrs Jones.

Mr Chawda said if surgeons had carried out a procedure to investigate the knee, it carried the risk of further infection, which could even lead to amputation.

Asked whether not carrying out the procedure, known as aspiration, also carried potential risks – including death – Mr Chawda said: “That’s right, yes.”

He said he offered Mrs Jones’ family his “deepest and utmost condolences”.

Earlier, the inquest heard evidence from Home Office pathologist Dr Brian Rodgers, who confirmed Mrs Jones’s death in May 2017 was as a result of bronchial pneumonia, with the main factor being an acute infection in her left knee.

He said she also had issues with her immune system, and was being treated for rheumatoid arthritis, which also needed to be considered.

He said he did not believe other health conditions, including heart disease, played a role in her death.

The week long inquest heard previously that concerns about Mrs Jones’ knee had been raised by her GP, medical doctors on the ward at Ysbyty Gwynedd, and also by her family.

She developed pneumonia due to the septic arthritis in her knee.