MP Shah Hospital has released the body of British aristocrat and wealthy farmer Tom Cholmondeley, who died on Wednesday after a hip replacement surgery went wrong.
There were reports
Cholmondeley’s family members were initially turned away.
But the postmortem was underway at Nairobi Hospital by the time of going to press. Cholmondeley’s
friends dismissed rumours he suffered a cardiac arrest because he had been in poor health.
“Rumours about a heart condition are not responsible. He was checked out thoroughly and had a cardiogram before going in for the operation. His heart rate was steady throughout the operation,” a close friend said yesterday.
“As they were closing the wound, problems started, so maybe it was something to do with the bonding cement.”
A recent UK survey shows chemicals in the cement used in hip operations have caused multiple deaths in Britain since 2004.
“Tom has had general anesthetic several times in recent years so that was not the problem. His health was fine,” Cholmondeley’s friend said.
Cholmondley slipped and fractured his hip two years ago. He already had one operation and this was a follow-up operation.
A family member said, “Everyone wants to know why he was taken to the ICU after a standard procedure that is normally under local or spinal anaesthesia.”
Cholmondeley, the son of the fifth Lord Delamere, died aged 48.
He was the grandson of Lord Delamere, one of the first and most influential British settlers in Kenya.
Cholmondeley was taken to one of the theatres at MP Shah Hospital on Wednesday morning
for a hip replacement surgery. His orthopaedic surgeon Neeraj Krishna was on standby with a team of doctors.
Krishna has been the family doctor for years and has carried out similar operations on Cholmondeley’s mother.
Doctors prepared Cholmondeley for the operation and in about two hours, the operation was complete.
But soon after, the heart rate monitor indicated there was too much pressure on Cholmondeley’s heart. Doctors had allegedly tried to get Cholmondeley out of the coma induced by anaesthetics.
By 10.30am, what was a simple operation turned into a huge life-saving emergency, a doctor at the hospital told the Star. Cholmondeley’s heart had stopped.
The hospital looked for some of its top cardiologists to save Cholmondeley.
But after three hours of electric shock and a myriad of procedures to get his heart beating again, Cholmondeley died, the doctor said.
Cholmondeley lived a controversial life and twice made national headlines for killing two Kenyans, first in 2005, then in 2009.
In 2005, he was charged with the murder of Samson ole Sisina, a Kenya Wildlife Service ranger who was investigating illegal trade in game meat at the 48,000ha Delamere ranch. A month later, the case collapsed.
In 2009, Cholmondeley shot and killed stonemason Robert Njoya, a father of four. He was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to eight months in jail. The judge who presided over the trial, Justice Muga Apondi, was later sacked by the The Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board.
On Wednesday, seven years after the stonemason’s killing, he was wheeled into MP Shah for a hip replacement operation.
Neeraj Krish.
The 48-year-old British settler’s son lived a controversial life and twice made national headlines for killing two Kenyans.
In 2005, he was charged with the murder of Samson ole Sisina, a Kenya Wildlife Service ranger who was investigating illegal trade in game meat at the 48,000ha Delamere ranch. A month later, the case collapsed.
The family of Tom Cholmondeley was yesterday planning an autopsy to establish the exact cause of his death.
Family members told the Star the postmortem would be conducted at the Lee Funeral Home in Nairobi.
“Everyone wants to know why he was taken into ICU after a standard procedure that is normally under a local spinal anesthetic,” a family member said.
Cholmondeley, a convicted killer, died at the MP Shah Hospital in Nairobi at 2.15pm on Wednesday, after a successful hip replacement surgery.
The family also claimed that the hospital had refused to release the body for the postmortem.
When reached for a comment, Anup Das, CEO of the hospital, said: “Please ask their lawyers. They are the best people to answer.”
The hospital also said plans to release the body would be authorized by their Medical Director Dr. Chris Abeid.
The 48-year-old British settler’s son lived a controversial life and twice made national headlines for killing two Kenyans.
In 2005, he was charged with the murder of Samson ole Sisina, a Kenya Wildlife Service ranger who was investigating illegal trade in game meat at the 48,000ha Delamere ranch. A month later, the case collapsed.
In 2009, Cholmondeley shot and killed stonemason Robert Njoya, a father of four. He was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to eight months in jail. The judge who presided over the trial, Justice Muga Apondi, was later sacked by the The Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board.
On Wednesday, seven years after the stonemason’s killing, he was wheeled into MP Shah for a hip replacement operation.
Neeraj Krishna, his orthopaedic surgeon and long-time family doctor, was at hand with a team of doctors.
His blood pressure rose soon after the medics initiated the process of getting him out of general anesthesia.
By 10.30am, his heart had stopped, a medic who was present told the Star.
Three hours of efforts to resuscitate him using electric shock failed to bore fruits and he died.
Although studies show that cardiac arrests during surgery are rare, the outcome is usually dire.
A Japanese Society of Anesthesiologists 2004 study reported that 6.34 of every 10,000 anesthetics resulted in cardiac arrest.
The majority of deaths were due to preoperative health complications (64.7%) and surgical problems (23.9%).
The main preoperative problem leading to death was hemorrhagic shock, and the main surgical problem leading to death was excessive surgical bleeding. The incidence of cardiac arrest totally attributable to anesthesia mismanagement was low (0.47 per 10,000 anesthetics), and anesthesia mismanagement was responsible for only 1.5% of deaths.
The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement database from 2005 to 2007 documented the incidence of intraoperative cardiac arrest in non-cardiac surgery as 7.22 per 10,000 cases.
Intraoperative blood loss, represented by the amount of blood transfused, was the most important risk factor. Patients receiving over 10 units of blood had greater than 10 times the risk of those receiving 1-3 units of blood.
Two other significant risk factors were emergency surgery and the patient’s preoperative health as assessed by the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status ranking. Of the 262 patients with intraoperative cardiac arrests, 44% died within 24 hours and 62% died within 30 days.