06/01/07 - Doc leaves writer fighting for life
By Alison Dayani
HEALTH CORRESPONDENT
Birmingham Mail

Bernard O'Mahoney

A FAMOUS Birmingham crime writer went into hospital for a cancer scan and ended up being read his last rites after an alleged medical blunder.

Reformed gangster Bernard O'Mahoney, whose novel Essex Boys was made into a film starring Sean Bean, went in to Selly Oak Hospital for a 30 minute scan of his bowel.

But the author, from Harborne, claimed too much air was pumped into his bowel, causing a lung to burst and even pushing his stomach up into his chest, leaving him fighting for his life in intensive care.

Mr O'Mahoney was forced to cancel a dream trip around the world as he battled back to recover from a collapsed lung and other complications in mid-December.

He has now returned back home and is preparing to sue University Hospital Trust, which runs the hospital, over what he claims was a "terrible blunder". It comes at a time when the author was hoping to get away from the city because it was the second anniversary of the death of his 26-year-old wife Emma from flu.

"I was supposed to be in and out of the hospital in half an hour, but instead I ended up in intensive care getting my last rites," said father-of-three Mr O'Mahoney, 46. "I needed another operation to put everything right and was in so much pain. "My wife died 19 weeks after we were married in 2004.

I was going to go travelling to Australia and South America to forget everything. "Instead, I nearly died. The doctor told me that what happened was a rare mistake, but it's not good enough and I will be taking legal action."

A spokeswoman for University Hospital Trust, which runs Selly Oak Hospital, said an investigation was under way into the alleged blunder. "A formal complaint has been lodged and we have launched an investigation and cannot comment any further until it is completed," she said. Mr O'Mahoney was having a colonoscopy where a tiny camera is put into the bowel to scan it. Air is pumped in to expand the bowel so the camera can move around. He was discharged on Boxing Day.