Woman Dies After Doctors Failed to Notice Toilet Brush Lodged in Her Rectum

A 35-year-old British woman died a horrible death after she fell in a friend's bathroom (she was drunk as all get out) and landed on a toilet brush, which became stuck in her, ahem, butt. That was in 2005, but, get this, it took doctors TWO YEARS to realize a six-inch long toilet brush was there and by then it had become embedded in her pelvis and surgery was too dangerous. Cindy Corton (pictured) died last year. Now her family is suing the hospital up the wazoo, according to the Sun.

Cindy spent more than ten hours in surgery at Nottingham's Queens Medical Centre but died from massive blood loss. Husband Peter, 61, said that when his wife first attended A&E at Lincoln County Hospital she was sent home with painkillers, despite showing them the wound on her bottom. Four days later she was in such pain she went to Grantham Hospital and, although x-rays were taken, nothing was found. He told the inquest in Grantham: "She wasn't properly examined by the doctor at Lincoln. At Grantham she wasn't examined properly again. This was unsatisfactory. The failures to investigate sufficiently in the first place at Lincoln and Grantham were a major factor in Cindy suffering. This could have been prevented by early location and removal of the foreign body which would have been a simple procedure at the time."....Witness Bruce Hickling of Ruskington, Lincs, told the hearing of the night the accident happened when Cindy had arrived at his home drunk. He said: "She was drunk. After about an hour she wanted to go to the toilet but I had to help her up the stairs. Then I heard the toilet flush followed by a bang and a cry. I went in and saw Cindy stuck between the toilet and the wall. I tried to lift her but she was wedged tight." He needed the assistance of a friend to free her before calling an ambulance because she was bleeding. "When the crew arrived they weren't very happy. They said she was drunk." He said it was the next day when he discovered that the handle of the toilet brush was snapped off and missing. Cindy's husband, a construction manager, is now taking legal action against United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust. He said after the hearing: "Ok she was drunk but they didn't take her seriously. She showed them the wound but they didn't do a proper examination. I think it was probably down to the hospitals trying to save money and doing things as cheaply as possible." He added: "Cindy got a very poor service from the NHS. I'm sure she would have got better treatment in foreign countries."

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