The widow of a man who died after two hip replacement operations in ten 10 days claimed Watford General Hospital “had given up on him”.

An inquest into the death of Alan Cayford, of Sheepcot Road, Garston, heard the 87-year-old was admitted to the Vicarage Road hospital in on March 21, 2015, for a full right-hip replacement.

Following the surgery, Mr Cayford developed pneumonia and was given an overdose of morphine.

His widow, Sheila Cayford, said: “They gave him two doses of morphine within two hours.

“He had five procedures and was only in hospital for 59 days. The hospital had given up on him.

“He was in so much pain, he told me he wanted to his leg to be cut off. He wanted to give up.”

On March 31, Mr Cayford’s hip replacement became dislocated and he underwent hip surgery for a second time on May 6.

Overnight, Mr Cayford’s blood count dropped dramatically, but nurses did not give suppressive drugs, the inquest at Hertfordshire Coroners’ Court heard.

Jonathon Refson, of the Princess Alexandra Hospital, said Mr Cayford developed a ‘herald bleed’, preceding a fatal haemorrhage. Herald bleeds are often accompanied by abdominal pain which may lead to catastrophic haemorrhage.

The inquest heard that if an endoscopy had been performed on Mr Cayford, it would have identified ulcers in his stomach, which were causing the pain in Mr Cayford’s abdomen.

Mr Refson said he would not have recommended surgery to resolve remove the ulcers as the likelihood of a survival with a good quality of life would have been very small.

During the inquest, it was revealed Mr Cayford lost at least 25 per cent of his body weight while during his stay in hospital.

Coroner Geoffrey Sullivan concluded Mr Cayford died of an upper gastrointestinal haemorrhage, an ulceration and chronic kidney disease.

He said: “A haemorrhage is a natural cause of death, but Mr Cayford’s death was contributed to by recent complications with his hip replacement.

“No one will make up for the loss of Alan.”

A spokesman said on behalf of West Hertfordshire Hospitals Trust: “We note the coroner’s report and would like to extend our thoughts to the family at this time.”