An inquest has heard that had equipment been working properly, a dad from Sutton who died recovering from weight loss surgery in a private south London hospital, he would likely have lived.

Today (Friday, February 9) marks the final day of the inquest into the death of Phillip Morris, 48.

The dad-of-one died in Spire St Anthony’s Hospital, Sutton at 1.25am on December 10, 2021 after undergoing gastric sleeve surgery.

Senior Coroner Ormond-Walshe said: “On the balance of probabilities, it is likely that Mr Morris would have survived the emergency intubation procedure had a correctly attached and working EtCO2 module been in use when assessing the front of neck airway, or at the time that the airway was first fashioned.”

Despite this, Senior Coroner Walshe did not conclude that Phillip’s death was down to neglect.

She said: “To give a neglect conclusion, I would have to find there was a clear connection between neglect and the death. I’m not returning a neglect conclusion.”

Phillip had considered this to be a “small serious risk for a life-changing reward” and researched the procedure extensively.

His wife Dana Morris, 48, has slammed the hospital for making a “catalogue of errors” and calls for “urgent answers”.

Senior Coroner Welsh apologised to Dana for the length of time this inquest has taken.

She said: “I want to begin by apologising to Mrs Morris.

“You have had enormous strength. We have taken up a lot of your time going through this and looking the facts in the face.

“Your son also.”

Throughout the five-day inquest, evidence given has revealed that the day before Phillip died his blood test was done hours later than his doctor had requested.

Evidence given throughout the inquest has also brought to light that in the final moments of Phillip’s life it has been found that two pieces of equipment at his bed were either not working properly or not connected properly and were not checked before Phillip was moved there.

This caused difficulties for hospital staff attempting to resuscitate Phillip.

Today, Senior Coroner Welsh said: “It’s too speculative to determine what would have happened if blood test and results were done earlier.

“It is not possible to say on the evidence I have heard.”

She concluded: “The deceased died suffering complications of an emergency procedure carried out, in turn, to treat complications post bariatric surgery.”

On Wednesday (February 7), Dr Shukla, a consultant intensivist at the hospital, told the inquest that the equipment was not checked due to the situation being an “emergency” and that there was not time to follow “ideal” procedure.

Dr McCrirrick, a consultant anaesthetist, also gave evidence that day as an expert witness.

When asked by the Senior Coroner Welsh whose responsibility it is to ensure the equipment is working properly in this situation, he said: “The simple answer is that the ultimate responsibility has to be that of Dr Shukla.

“He is the consultant he’s in charge and he is the clinician about to anesthetise and intubate the patient so clearly, he has the ultimate responsibility.

“However, setting up all the equipment is a team effort and other members of the team should have some input too.”

Phillip was initially supposed to have this surgery in an NHS hospital, however, when the pandemic hit these procedures were put on hold.

His wife Dana has said that Dr Khan offered to complete the surgery at St Anthony’s Hospital, run by Spire Health, in Sutton for £12,000 so that it could be completed sooner.

Phillip was a writer, university lecturer and a trained actor and his wife describes him as “funny, focused and determined” adding that he was “the most intelligent man that I had ever met”.

In a statement heard by the Coroners Court on February 5, Mrs Morris explained that Phil suffered from severe obstructive sleep apnoea, requiring him to sleep with CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) every night.

He was also a type II diabetic and had allegedly been thinking about how to lose weight for a long time.

Dana said that he had decided to go through with this surgery for the health benefits being a lower weight would give him.