About five weeks ago I took my late, dear mum to Colchester General Hospital for a routine gastroscopy procedure to examine her gullet and stomach, where you are in and out within a few hours.

The only reason my mum had this done was because she was anaemic and would require iron injections.

The consultant insisted it had to be done before he went ahead with the iron injections.

I took mum to the Elmstead day unit five weeks ago and waited for her. In a few hours, she was discharged.

I got her to my car and she started vomiting and her neck was swelling up. I managed to get her back into hospital and get help.

There was panic, so many people around my mum. They wouldn’t tell me, at first, what was the matter. Then, when I started to get upset and a nurse told me: “I think her throat has been punctured!”

Mum was kept in hospital.

She didn’t eat or drink at all for nearly three weeks because the damage they had done to her throat constantly made her vomit.

Mum was discharged after three weeks, but they said the wound had not completely healed and she could only eat soup.

Four days later, mum collapsed and was admitted to the emergency department.

She died two days later and the way she died was agonising, not being able to get her breath and not being able to even have a sip of water. It was so distressing.

The doctors at the hospital told me so many stories, blaming her heart, blaming this and everything else.

My mum had never had a heart problem. She was 100 per cent fit, walking every day, until they did what they did to her.

I received the death certificate from the hospital a few days after she died and went to register her death.

When the registrar read the certificate, she said: “What is this? Perforation of the oesophagus?”

I told her what had happened and she said she was very sorry but she would have to notify a coroner. A phone call was made and it was decided a post-mortem examination would have to take place.

I was so distressed. I just didn’t want my poor mum messed around with anymore, but by law I had no choice and the truth had to be uncovered.

The coroner’s report from the post-mortem examination was that death was caused by unnatural causes. She died from perforation of the oesophagus, which caused an abscess on her lung.

Myself and my family are devastated. We only had the funeral two weeks ago as this was held back for the post mortem. There is now an inquest going on.

A solicitor I have consulted has advised me to sue the hospital. So many other people agree, but I feel suing the hospital will not bring my mum back and it is all about money.

Even though I am on my own and not at all well off, I feel any money would be poison and would have to go to charity.

Nevertheless I feel I have to fight my mum’s case and she cannot die in vain.

So I want to make people aware to prevent this happening to someone else, even though I know this sort of thing is happening to too many people and not enough care is being taken.

Even though, I realise Colchester General Hospital does some fantastic work, I felt there are areas within the hospital where there are serious problems and neglect.

I really haven’t known where to turn to raise awareness of mistakes that are too often being made in the hospital. A close friend suggested I write to the Gazette to see if you could publish some of my poor late mum’s experiences.

It would mean so much more to me and my family than actually suing the hospital because I feel it would reach the local community, who I feel have the right to know.

If this letter is published then at least my mum hasn’t died in vain.

Lynda Muir
Red Barn Road
Brightlingsea