A surgeon has told an inquest he was “possibly not adamant enough” in persuading a woman to have what could have been a life-saving operation.

Margaret Hand, who was 43 and lived at Birch Grove, Wyke, died in intensive care at Bradford Royal Infirmary days later on October 8 last year.

Mrs Hand, who had a history of serious bowel-linked problems and resulting operations after having a hysterectomy in Leeds years before, had “refused point blank” the first time BRI surgeon John Griffiths tried to get her to agree to a reversal of an operation she had just had to close a colostomy.

“May be I should have stressed the point further,” he said. “We knew there was a problem. I was possibly not adamant enough.”

Mrs Hand had desperately wanted rid of the colostomy to get her back to a normal life even though it had been working and despite knowing it would be a high-risk procedure.

At first it seemed the operation she had pleaded her surgeon for had worked but then she became unwell, the inquest was told.

She eventually agreed to go back into theatre 24 hours after Mr Griffiths first suggested it.

Mr Griffiths told the inquest in Bradford yesterday that those 24 hours “may have made a difference” and could have saved her life.

But Coroner Roger Whittaker said he was satisfied that “although an earlier reversal might have saved her life there was no guarantee it would have”.

If Mrs Hand had not insisted on having the colostomy closed in the first place, she would not have been dead now, the inquest heard.

A post-mortem examination showed she died from multi-organ failure due to her bowel dying – secondary to the reversal of the colostomy.

The underlying cause was the numerous previous operations she had undergone since her bowel was scratched while having a hysterectomy – the damage had been a recognised risk.

Recording a verdict of misadventure, Mr Whittaker stressed there was no criticism of any of the surgery. He said the colostomy reversal had been a perfectly lawful procedure which had been properly consented to but had unexpectedly gone wrong.

“All the difficulties she experienced were recognised complications,” he said.