An inquest into the death of a Bury St Edmunds woman who died following complications with her hospital treatment is set to be heard this morning.

Susan Warby, known to friends and family as Sue, died at West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds, on August 30, 2018, after 35 days in hospital.

The 57-year-old had been admitted with abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhoea and had two rounds of bowel surgery.

An inquest in Ipswich heard that following her death husband Jon Warby, a retired police officer, received an anonymous letter from a whistleblower “suggesting something had gone wrong during the surgery”.

Coroner Nigel Parsley said because of the letter, which claimed the wrong intravenous fluid had been used, he asked Suffolk police and the hospital to conduct their own investigations, both of which confirmed the issue with the arterial line.

A check found Mrs Warby had incorrectly been given glucose instead of saline.

Mr Warby said: “I asked what the effect of this could be and the consultant told me brain damage or death.”

Doctors were reportedly asked for fingerprints as part of the hospital’s investigation, with a representative from trade union Unison describing the investigation as a “witch hunt” designed to identify the whistleblower who revealed the blunders.

The inquest, listed for two days, begins at 10am.

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