A “DEVASTATED” consultant choked back tears at an inquest into the death of his patient at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital.

Struggling to contain his emotions, Dr Raymond McCrudden, pictured, told the Bournemouth Coroner’s Court how he had been saddened to hear that care home manager Suzanne Rawlins, 61, had passed away.

The care home manager died on November 13, three days after her duodenum was perforated during an operation to remove a gall stone.

A post mortem showed the mother-of-one’s death had been due to blood poisoning caused by the perforation, with heart disease a contributing factor.

Consultant physician and gastroenterologist Dr McCrudden described the procedure as “very simple and straightforward”, adding: “I did not anticipate any complications.”

He described perforations as “a relatively common complication” and said: “We see around one or two cases a year. Usually patients are discharged within two or three days.

“I was devastated to hear of this lady’s death. I was devastated I could not meet her relatives to go over the case with them; I sympathise with their pain and loss.

“The saddest thing is that there is nothing that I would have done, or should have done, differently. That has been particularly hard for me. This was a textbook case; we have difficult cases all the time.”

In a statement Ms Rawlins’ daughter Philippa Norwood described her mother as her “best friend”.

She said Ms Rawlins from Chatsworth Way, New Milton, had been “in absolute agony” on the night of her operation, adding: “When I spoke to her the next morning she said she had been told that her bowel may have been perforated. Why was nothing done until Saturday lunchtime?”

Dr McCrudden told Mrs Norwood her mother’s symptoms had been unusual, adding: “I have never seen them before and they have never been recorded in medical literature.”

After a scan on November 12 Ms Rawlins received antibiotics but her condition rapidly deteriorated and repeated attempts to resuscitate her failed.

Coroner Sheriff Payne recorded a verdict that Ms Rawlins had died from “a recognised complication following necessary surgery”.