A mother whose surgical wound burst open after an operation at the Royal United Hospital in Bath has had her medical negligence claim settled.

Karena McAlister with her husband Gary | Photo supplied
Mother-of-one Karena McAlister, 52, can no longer take part in active hobbies due to the post-surgical complications.
In February 2017, she underwent surgery to remove her ovaries as she had a large cyst.
It was alleged that the wound was not closed properly, leading to the stitches unravelling.
Despite heavy bleeding, she was discharged, but continued blood loss and sickness meant she was rushed back into hospital the following morning.
She then underwent an emergency operation to re-stitch the surgical incision, which caused adhesions and has left her with life-long chronic pain.
The failings triggered the hospital to investigate but when the subsequent report contained multiple factual errors, despite photo evidence showing the contrary, Ms McAlister approached Lime Solicitors.
With the law firm’s support, she has now settled her medical negligence claim against Royal United Bath NHS Foundation Trust and received an apology.
Ms McAlister, of Wiltshire, said: “I was very active beforehand – I used to go wakeboarding, cycling, swimming and running – but it all stopped overnight.
“Even simple things like hanging the washing out, changing the bedding and vacuuming – I can’t do them any more due to the pain.”
Her partner Gary Harvey said: “The ward let Karena down; the care she received was dreadful. They should never have discharged her so late at night when she was still bleeding and in pain.
“I’ll always blame myself for agreeing to take her home. She was in agony and it was obvious the stitching had come undone – you only needed to look at the wound.”
He added: “The investigation post-operation was incorrect. If the hospital had just apologised at the time, that truly would have been sufficient.
“But they couldn’t acknowledge that the care was suboptimal and verging on neglect. As a result, Karena will have to suffer for the rest of her life.”
Lime Solicitors instructed a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist to assess the standard of surgery.
He relied on documents within the medical records, which supported a finding that the knot was tied insufficiently, which likely allowed it to unravel.
The trust denied liability, suggesting the “knot snapped”. However, there was no evidence to support that assertion and Lime Solicitors’ expert had never come across this in 30 years of practice.
Despite prolonged litigation, a settlement was achieved during a mediation hearing in April 2023, a few weeks before the scheduled trial. The trust subsequently provided a letter of apology to Ms McAlister.
Viral Dagly, medical negligence associate at Lime Solicitors, who supported her throughout her claim, said: “Ultimately, all Ms McAlister wanted was for the trust to say sorry and to ensure learning from her own experience.
“She had very reasonable expectations for the claim, which should have settled far earlier than it did – avoiding the anguish of preparing for trial and significant legal costs.”
An RUH spokesperson said: “We are very sorry that the care that Ms McAlister received fell below the high standards we set ourselves. We take our responsibilities to the people we care for very seriously.
“We have investigated what went wrong and have taken steps to reduce the chance of this unfortunate complication of surgery occurring again.”