Dorothy Readhead was hoping an innovative heart operation to replace a faulty valve would give her a new lease of life – but it turned out to be fatal.

The 87-year-old was suffering from breathlessness, but was not suitable for open-heart surgery .

A new, less invasive procedure to replace the aortic valve – called a transcatheter aortic valve implant (TAVI) – promised her a return to gardening and helping out at her local church.

But doctors at Castle Hill Hospital, near Hull, botched the procedure after trying to force the new valve through the wrong leg, causing a major artery tear and the loss of five litres of blood during a six-hour operation.

Mrs Readhead died a week later, in the summer of 2020, with her family none the wiser about what had occurred.

Now, it has been revea

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