A MOTHER-OF-THREE has told of her four years of misery after a routine hospital test went disastrously wrong and left her fighting for her life.

What was meant to be a straightforward stomach examination triggered a nightmarish sequence of events for Andrea Carey.

Ms Carey, 33, from Houghton Road, Darlington, underwent what she thought would be a harmless diagnostic procedure in January 2003.

But instead of going home, she was rushed into intensive care and given 21 units of blood.

During the procedure, which involved passing a camera-tipped tube into her stomach, a major artery was severed.

For four hours, doctors and nurses did not realise she was bleeding internally.

But when medical staff at Darlington Memorial Hospital noticed something was wrong, Ms Carey was taken into intensive care, where she spent the next nine days fighting for her life, connected to a heart-lung machine. She underwent five operations as surgeons fought to stop the bleeding.

This involved a massive incision in her stomach, which had to stay open for many hours.

To add to her misery Ms Carey's deep wound was infected with the superbug MRSA.

Now, nearly four years later, Ms Carey has appealed to the County Durham and Darlington Acute Hospitals NHS Trust to recognise the distress caused by her experience.

But a trust spokesman said that, although it acknowledged her distress, there were risks with all surgical procedures and it did not believe there was any negligence.

Ms Carey, who developed post traumatic stress disorder, said: "All of this has had a disastrous effect on my life. I just feel the hospital has turned its back on me. I feel let down."

She was so badly affected that she had to learn how to walk again. While she was recuperating from her operations, her youngest child had to be looked after by her mother-in-law.

"I had a baby at the time, which I was unable to look after," she said.

It also meant she had to give up her work as a nursing assistant.

A sick note written by her GP, five months after she had emergency surgery, stated that she had gone through a "near-death experience", which had left her "tearful", suffering from flashbacks and troubled by nightmares.

The note said she was left lacking in energy, motivation and her wound was slow to heal.

She said: "My life was crushed that day in January. I lost my job, my family suffered greatly, the pain and suffering I endured was unbelievable, and I nearly lost my life.

"I also have the most horrendous scarring as a constant reminder. I will never forget it for the rest of my life."

Ms Carey and her partner, Kieran Barlow, spent 18 months with a firm of no-win-no-fee solicitors trying to pursue a claim for compensation.

But because they were unable to get legal aid, and have been forced to pay in advance for costly medical reports, the couple have reluctantly decided not to take legal action.

A County Durham and Darlington Acute Hospitals NHS Trust spokesman said: "There are some risks with all surgical procedures, and the patient suffered from a known complication during her treatment, which unfortunately led to further complications.

"The medical director has met the patient and explained that, although we do not believe there was any negligence in the case, we very much acknowledge and regret the distress caused."