Phillip Morris died after private weight loss surgery

Lecturer and writer Phillip Morris, 48, was admitted to St Anthony’s Hospital in Surrey – owned by private healthcare provider Spire – for a planned £12,000 gastric sleeve operation in December 2021.

The procedure was supposed to be “life changing” for the father-of-one, who had Type 2 diabetes and had always struggled with his weight.

However, just days after the operation, Mr Morris died from a lack of oxygen – which his wife Dana and son Orson blame on the “appalling” care they say he received from those at Spire.

Phillip Morris, left, died after weight loss surgery at a private hospital (Image: SWNS)

At the start of a four-day inquest into his death yesteday, a statement by Dana detailed how the information her husband gave her about his recovery differed "significantly" from the information the doctors at St Anthony’s gave her.

She and Orson, then 12 but now 14, were unable to visit Phil due to Covid-19 rules.

Dana told Croydon Coroner’s Court: “Following his procedure, Phil told me he had advised the surgeon, Mr Omar Khan, that he was having difficulty swallowing – and couldn’t even keep water down.

“But Mr Khan rang me later that evening and told me the surgery had gone well.”

Later, Dana spoke to her husband on the phone – but he was unable to chat for more than a few minutes without becoming very short of breath. “He said he was in a lot of pain,” she explained.

Things worsened from there, with Mr Morris, originally from Newport in Wales, texting his wife the next day to say he had had “a rough night” - with his shortness of breath increasing.

He also told her that “he felt that Mr Khan was not listening to him” and “was dismissing the symptoms he was communicating.”

Dana said she too felt “dismissed” when she called Mr Khan to express her concerns. “He told me everyone feels rough after surgery,” she said.

She told the hearing: “I felt like I was having to advocate for Phil to Mr Khan to persuade him to treat Phil with care and give him the necessary medical attention.”

Later that day, Dana received a call from St Anthony’s to inform her Phil had reported being “in excruciating pain”.

Phillip Morris was left in 'excruciating pain' after surgery (Image: SWNS)

She was told she could visit him despite Covid-19 restrictions, but after arriving at the hospital, was denied access to his room.

Mr Khan came to visit Dana in the hospital reception room and told her he had ordered blood tests.

She said: “He said he didn’t think Phil could have an internal leak because he would be ‘crumpled on the floor in pain’, but I said he has a very high pain tolerance.

“Then, despite earlier saying the operation went well, Mr Khan said in this conversation that the surgery ‘was very difficult’.

“He said he ‘thought about pulling out’, but thought, if I pull out now, Phil will be dead in ten years.”

Dana said she repeatedly asked if the facilities at St Anthony’s were “adequate” for what Phil needed – or if he should be transferred to nearby NHS hospital St George’s.

She was assured St Anthony’s had “everything” they had at St George’s.

“When Mr Khan walked me to my car, he said it was a shame I could not see Phil in person – as he thought it ‘would do him some good’,” Dana said.

“I query now whether Mr Khan would have had the authority to allow this.

“I feel if I had been allowed to visit in person I would have seen the severity of Phil’s condition and would have insisted he be transferred to St George’s.”

Things turned from bad to worse when Dana received a call to tell her Phil had somehow managed to leave the ward and was standing outside the hospital.

She and Orson rushed to St Anthony’s, but upon arriving, had to run around in the dark outside looking for Phil as reception had been closed.

“I remember thinking what a traumatic night this would be for Orson – one he would never forget,” Dana said.

Eventually, they found Phil, who seemed “confused”.

“He told Orson to run, saying this was ‘not a safe place’,” Dana recalled.

When they got Phil back inside the hospital, Dana tried to keep him calm while they waited for Mr Khan to arrive.

She said: “When Mr Khan arrived, he did not pick up on the sensitivity of the situation and the necessity of keeping things calm.

“He spoke to Phil very loudly, asking how he was, to which Phil replied; ‘F*** off, shit surgeon.”

Mr Morris was then transferred into the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit.

While Dana watched staff transfer him from one bed to another, she noticed some of them were “laughing”.

She said she was told by Mr Khan that her husband was going to be put into an induced coma so he could be transported to St George’s Hospital the next morning.

A nurse named Michelle then asked Dana and Orson if they would like to see Phil “for the last time.”

“I understood this to mean before they put him into the coma,” Dana said.

When her and Orson went to say goodbye to Phil, however, they noticed he was having serious trouble breathing.

“By this point, he had been off oxygen for hours after being allowed to leave the hospital,” Dana said.

“He was on the bed, not elevated, lying flat on his back. He was gasping, straining to breathe.”

But the doctor present – Dr Shukla – was not acting “with any urgency”, Dana said. A nurse told her that Phil would be able to breathe better once they had inserted a tube, which they were preparing for.

“I told myself, 'Dana, you’re not a doctor, you should get out of the way and let the professionals do their work',” Dana said.

She and Orson left the hospital at around 11pm but, just over two hours later, she received a call to inform her that her husband had died.

Describing the devastating moment, Dana said: “I received a call from a woman named Myriame at around 1:50am on December 10,2021.

“It was very unclear what the purpose of the call was, and about three minutes in, I interrupted her to ask if Phil was okay.

“She paused, and then told me Phil had died.

“I was in disbelief and remember exclaiming, ‘what?’

“I was especially shocked because, in my mind, when I had been in hospital just a short while ago at 11pm, I wasn’t given the impression that Mr Khan [who carried out the operation] was expecting Phil to die.

“The phone call felt like a bizarre nightmare, and I told Myriame, ‘sorry, you’re not making any sense, I’m going to put down the phone and call Mr Khan.’

“I phoned Mr Khan, and when I heard his tone, I realised this was all real.

“I recall Mr Khan saying, ‘This shouldn’t have happened. There will definitely be an inquest.’

“He sounded angry.”

Dana then explained that she was told by hospital staff that she only had an hour to come in and say goodbye to Phil.

“I was made to feel as if there was an immense time pressure,” she said. “I remember feeling like I had to negotiate with Myriame, trying to explain to her that Phil’s mother would need at least three hours to be driven from Wales.

“I was also forced to wake up our twelve-year-old son Orson to inform him of his father’s death.

“If the time pressure had not been there, I could have waited a few hours for him to wake up naturally.

“As a result of being woken up and told this horrific news, Orson has had nightmares ever since – as he is afraid that when he goes to sleep someone is going to wake him up to tell him this.”

Dana later added that Orson entered “a deep depression” after his father’s death.

“He struggled to understand how he could live without his dad,” she explained. “He and Phil were inseparable.”

Even once Dana and Orson arrived at St Anthony’s, the sense of there being a time pressure continued.

“Whilst we were spending time with Phil’s body, staff members kept coming into the room,” Dana said.

“I asked for us to have some undisturbed time with him, but doctors and nurses kept coming in.

“I ended up positioning my back to the door to keep everyone out.”

This allowed Phil’s son Orson, then 12, and now 14, to sing a song to his father and hug him goodbye.

“Orson was due to sing in a school concert the following week, which Phil had been looking forward to attending, so Orson sang the song to him while holding his hand and trying to hug him and keep him warm,” Dana explained.

But before Dana herself could spend any time with her late husband, they were forced away because the mortuary service had already arrived.

“I feel that we were robbed of an opportunity to spend adequate time with Phil after his death, and were instead rushed out of the hospital,” Dana said.

To make matters worse, just three weeks after her husband's died, Spire started sending monthly bills to Dana to recoup the costs of his operation.

Dana said: “Spire’s treatment was supposed to help Phil, but all they did was send me bills after he died. It was appalling.”

Senior Coroner Sarah Olmond-Walshe said Mr Khan would give evidence later on in the inquest.

The inquest continues.