13-year-old died waiting for routine surgery

GREAT Ormond Street Hospital has apologised to the family of a teenager who died waiting for a simple operation that could have saved him.

Arvind Jain, 13, of Cricklewood, had a muscle-wasting disease that meant he could not swallow, and needed a routine procedure to insert a feeding tube into his stomach.

But surgeons failed to arrange the treatment or turn up for vital meetings, and after six months he died from complications including malnutrition. His parents Ashok, 63, and Mridula, 49, were too upset to talk.

But Arvind's sister Shushma, 28, said: "We sat and watched as my gorgeous and brave brother deteriorated as he could not be fed or have medications. He became skin and bones."

Arvind had Duchenne muscular dystrophy and was admitted to the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead in December 2008 when he lost the ability to eat. Great Ormond Street neuromuscular specialists recommended surgeons should do the operation, but letters sent within the hospital went unanswered. Arvind died on August 9 last year.

Great Ormond Street offered its "sincere apologies" and said it accepted management was poor and letters should have been answered.

However, it said other problems with the illness had contributed to Arvind's deterioration.