But what we must not do is make a panic response that gets people worried about health care. The doctor concerned has been suspended while an investigation takes place. The anaesthetic drug Bupivicaine should have been delivered into the spine after the operation. Vincristine And the hospital trust has also called for a separate, independent review by the Royal College of Anaesthetists. Complications are rare with epidurals which routinely given to patients after operations.
Doctors can give patients large doses of local anaesthetic through epidurals.
A needle is inserted into the spine and passed through a tiny catheter into the epidural space in the back. But there is a danger that the catheter could be injected into one of the many veins surrounding the area. If that happens, the large amounts of anaesthetic involved can stop the heart. The teenager died just 24 hours after an inquest into the death of a female patient who took eight years to die after being injected with vincristine in the spine. The same mistake has been made in UK hospitals on 13 occasions over the last 15 years.