A 28-STONE man died after a gastric band operation in Dewsbury went wrong.

A Huddersfield inquest heard it was a “last resort” operation to enable Jarrod Lee Fahey to lose weight.

But he died days later from septic shock following a “leak” from the operation, the inquest heard.

Mr Fahey, 39, who was married with three children and lived in Ossett, was apprehensive about the operation at Dewsbury and District Hospital but went ahead despite having last-minute reservations, his wife Andrea told Huddersfield Coroner’s Court.

In a detailed and moving statement she told how he was treated for morbid obesity by consultant surgeon Philip Lyndon, who performed a gastric bypass and stapled his stomach.

Mrs Fahey, said her husband was told on March 13 last year, that there was a bed available and he was required to be there that evening.

But she said he became “distressed” at the prospect of the operation once there and called to say he was not sure about going through with it.

She said: “I told him to let the doctors get on with their job. He wanted me to collect him.”

The operation went ahead the following day and when she enquired if the surgery had gone to plan she was told there were no complications and staff were pleased with her husband’s progress.

On March 20 he was allowed home but the following day Mrs Fahey said: “I told him I was worried that something was seriously wrong. He looked hot and clammy.

“I was really unhappy about his condition.”

Later that day “he let out a shriek” and she found him covered in blood down his left side. She phoned Local Care Direct for qualified help.

The inquest heard that a triage nurse failed to register the seriousness of Mr Fahey’s plight and it was not until 9.45pm that a doctor finally arrived and agreed he needed to return to hospital.

Mrs Fahey and her father-in-law Bernard began driving him down the street but she quickly noticed he was not answering his questions and his head had started to slide off the head-rest. She phoned emergency services but they were unable to save him.

Prof John Baxter told the court he had “no doubt the operation was done competently”.

But he told coroner Roger Whittaker “the likelihood is that there was a leak at some stage”.

The leak should not necessarily have caused death, although the operation itself was considered “high risk”, he said. “A leak was not equal with a death sentence.”

Asked by Mr Whittaker about the dangers inherent in the operation, he replied: “Patients are warned this could happen – this is high-risk surgery.”

Mr Whittaker, recording a verdict of misadventure, said: “This was a complex case from the start conducted by a highly experienced and competent surgeon. The operation was uneventful.”

But he added: “I have to say from the evidence that I have received that I believe there was a small leak. It was a small one, clearly it must have healed spontaneously.

“From that, tragic Jarrod developed peritonitis which caused his death.”

The coroner will write to Local Care Direct to express his concerns over its failings.