A MAN died from internal bleeding eight hours after being discharged from Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital.

Daniel Senior died on the same day he was declared fit enough to leave hospital following a four-night stay for intestinal bleeding.

An inquest at County Hall heard how the 48-year-old was released at 10.30am and confirmed dead at 6.40pm.

His brother Jerry and sister Sally left the adjourned hearing yesterday and said they still had “unanswered questions”.

Mr Senior, of Merton Close, in Eynsham, had chronic pancreatitis and had pre-arranged surgery on July 23, 2008.

He was discharged from the JR five days later, but was re-admitted to hospital after suffering a seizure on Monday, August 11.

His widow Sheena told the inquest: “At just gone 10pm he just collapsed on the floor screaming in pain. It was all just blood that came out of him.”

During his four nights in hospital, Dr Yalda Sharifi performed an endoscopy to determine the source of the bleeding.

She told the inquest she saw a small stomach ulcer, but “could not identify any arterial bleed” before the sedated Mr Senior’s blood pressure dropped and it was deemed unsafe to continue.

At 4.37am on August 12, the patient was given an angiography – in which blood is dyed to identify internal sources of bleeding – by Dr Jens Brockmann.

Dr Brockmann told the inquest he also could not find the source of the bleeding, but discharged Mr Senior on August 15.

He said: “Even knowing this unfortunate outcome I wouldn’t have changed our policy at all,” he said. “I can perfectly understand your (the family’s) feelings and your concerns but given all the history, the bleed he suffered on Friday could have happened in hospital and may still have been fatal.”

Mr Senior, who was manager of paintball centre Sqirmish, in Reading, had been married for around 25 years and had two children, Cody, 22, and Roxanne, 24.

Independent pathologist Dr Kenneth Shorrock said the cause of death, “in all probability, because I cannot be absolutely certain”, was bleeding from a chronic ulcer in the duodenum.

He told the inquest a different programme of treatment could have prevented Mr Senior’s death, but said his area of expertise extended to posing such questions, not answering them.

Coroner Dr Nicholas Gardiner adjourned the inquest until a later date to hear evidence from surgeon Zahir Soonawalla, who was not available yesterday.

Outside the hearing, Jerry Senior said: “Our issue isn’t at all to do with the fact these things aren’t easy.

“We are strong advocates of the health service, but the issue is they discharged him without a diagnosis or treatment.”

tairs@oxfordmail.co.uk