Mum died after parts of failing pacemaker left inside her for years

Mum died after parts of failing pacemaker left inside her for years A coroner says there is a 'significant risk of future deaths' if changes are not made A mother of two died after parts of a failing pacemaker were left inside her. Kerry Singh, 37, suffered a catastrophic bleed last year during a heart procedure that a specialist said “should have happened five years earlier”, a coroner's report has revealed. HM Senior Coroner for the City of London, Alison Hewitt, has issued a Prevention of Future Deaths report to East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust. The coroner said that while she can not confirm that Mrs Singh died as a direct result of failings at the William Harvey Hospital (WHH) in Ashford, there is a “significant risk of future deaths” if concerns are not addressed. Mrs Singh’s husband Jaspreet now hopes “lessons will be learned” so that “no other family has to go through the heartbreak” they are living with. The inquest heard that Mrs Singh was fitted with a pacemaker at the WHH in 2016 after two failed attempts to treat a heart condition called atrioventricular nodal re-entrant tachycardia. By 2019 at the latest, doctors recognised that the pacemaker's leads were failing and would eventually need replacing at a specialist tertiary centre. However, when the pacemaker’s battery generator was replaced in 2021 due to early loss of charge, the failing leads were left inside Mrs Singh. The coroner noted that no specialist tertiary centre was consulted about this decision. Over the next few years, Mrs Singh's health rapidly deteriorated. She suffered worsening dizzy spells and chest pain, which often saw her taken to hospital by ambulance. By late 2024, her symptoms left her unable to work. On December 30, 2024, a 24-hour tape test revealed intermittent failures in her pacing system, which increased her risk of a sudden blackout. But a consultant did not view the test results until March 2025 – three months later. A multidisciplinary team meeting on April 3, 2025, finally concluded that Mrs Singh desperately needed a referral to a specialist tertiary centre to have the pacemaker leads removed and replaced. It was only when Mrs Singh suffered a blackout on July 7, 2025, due to a complete intermittent failure of the pacing system, and was rushed to hospital by ambulance, that staff realised the vital referral had never been made. She was later urgently transferred to tertiary centre St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, where she was told by a consultant that the lead extraction surgery “should have happened five years earlier”. Tragically, during the urgent operation on July 14, 2025, the tip of a ventricular lead released, causing a surgical sheath to flick and tear her superior vena cava – a recognised complication of the complex procedure. Following the extraction, Mrs Singh - who lived in Ashford - suffered a cardiac arrest as a result of bleeding from the tear. Despite immediate resuscitation attempts, she died from massive bleeding, hypovolaemic shock and cardiac arrest. Coroner Hewitt recorded a conclusion that Mrs Singh’s death was a result of a recognised complication of a necessary procedure, and that she could not definitely say that it would have been avoided had she had the pacemaker leads removed earlier. In her Prevention of Future Deaths report – which has been sent to the trust – she states: “My concerns relate to the management and care of the deceased’s pacemaker problems by the WHH and the relevant systems in place within the hospital. There was delay by the WHH in consulting and making a referral to a tertiary centre, which deprived the deceased of the benefit of specialist input at an early stage and the possibility of the lead extraction being performed at an earlier stage and on an elective basis.” Outlining other concerns, the coroner said no specialists were made aware of the pacemaker failing, despite knowledge of this years before her death. She added: “The evidence I heard from St Bartholomew’s Hospital said that it is important that the tertiary centre is aware of such patients at any early stage, as this provides an opportunity for the specialist team to fully understand the patient’s precise situation, and to plan for an elective procedure to be performed in a timely manner. “I am concerned that the lack of timely involvement of the relevant tertiary centre in care planning may result in future deaths.” Other serious issues have also been raised, including that Mrs Singh was not fully informed and consulted on when the required lead extraction procedure should be performed. Furthermore, it was noted that the consultant who was expected to check the test results was "overwhelmed" and there was no system in place to make sure results are read through alerts or that important tasks are performed in a timely manner. Coroner Hewitt was also concerned that the hospital trust did not undertake, prior to the inquest, any internal investigation or review of its care and management of Mrs Singh. Mr Singh says his wife’s pacemaker “never felt right” since the day it was fitted. He added: “From that moment on, regular visits to William Harvey Hospital became part of our lives. Ambulances taking Kerry into hospital and her coming home a day or two later became our normal, but despite all those visits, nothing ever seemed to change. “As the years went by, Kerry was in more and more pain and suffered so much. We kept asking for help because she knew something wasn't right, but nothing changed.” He describes her as a “loving wife and a devoted mum to our two daughters”. “I hope that by sharing what happened to her, lessons will be learned so that no other family has to go through the heartbreak that we now live with every day,” he said. “My plea to the hospital is this – please just don't let this happen to anyone else.” Rebecca Drew of Fieldfisher, who is representing the family in an ongoing civil claim, said: “The coroner has issued her severest warning and it is now up to the trust to ensure they improve their care so that no other families are devastated by patients simply falling through the system and being left to go on and on suffering.” Des Holden, acting chief executive at the trust, said: “We extend our deepest sympathies to the family and loved ones of Mrs Kerry Singh. We are carefully reviewing the coroner’s concerns to learn from these and identify any changes we can make to strengthen the care we provide.”