A WOMAN is to sue a Dutch hospital after the tragic end to the new life abroad that she and her husband had planned.

Elivia and John Pickard moved to Holland from North Yorkshire in April 1999 to be closer to friends.

But within four months Mr Pickard, a veteran of the Falklands and Gulf War, was in a coma after a seizure at home.

Mrs Pickard, 43, who is trying to rebuild her life back in Brompton-on-Swale, North Yorkshire, is convinced that the treatment her husband received during his stay at a hospital in Venlo, near Eindhoven, contributed to his death.

His wife kept a bedside vigil for four weeks but, just before the 42-year-old father-of-three could be transferred to a specialist coma unit, the previously fit and healthy ex-RAF man died.

Last November, a coroner at Richmond, North Yorkshire, recorded an open verdict on Mr Pickard, who died of natural causes as a result of a pulmonary embolism - a blood clot.

Mrs Pickard has made contact with a medical negligence lawyer in Amsterdam and plans to take legal action against the St Maartens Gasthuis hospital in Venlo, near Eindhoven.

The nightmare began on April 13, 1999 when Mr Pickard slipped into a coma at home.

At first he was on a life support machine at a hospital near Maastricht, but doctors got him breathing on his own and transferred him to Venlo.

On the way to the Venlo hospital, Mrs Pickard claims a doctor told her that his brain-scan was normal.

But within an hour of arriving at Venlo, the doctors said he was in a vegetative state and would not recover.

She claims that doctors discontinued hydration and medication days before she had arranged for her husband to be transferred to the Tilburg coma hospital.

Before the transfer could take place, he was found dead by nurses on September 19, 1999.

Mrs Pickard also disputes her husband was in a persistent vegetative state. "He would respond to your voice and his eyes would follow you around," she said.

After his death, the RAF flew the ex-airman's body back to the UK.

A postmortem examination was performed at The Friarage Hospital, Northallerton. An inquest was opened and adjourned for more tests.

"I was expecting a verdict of natural causes, but the coroner recorded an open verdict," said Mrs Pickard.

A spokesman for the St Maartens hospital declined to comment.