A HOSPITAL last night pledged to make changes to drug trials after an Oxford cancer sufferer endured an “unimaginable nightmare” and died while testing a new treatment.

Andy Witney died in August last year after a five-year cancer battle, but an inquest in Oxford heard yesterday the trial drugs may have accelerated his death.

The 56-year-old suffered from mesothelioma, an incurable cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. The former Cowley car worker had been a “human guinea pig” taking part in cancer drug trials at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford.

But severe side effects left him in agony, without the use of his lower legs and suffering uncontrollable diarrhoea. He died 12 days later.

Last night his widow Karen Witney, of Lyndworth Close, Headington, said her husband did not receive adequate care from the hospital to cope with the side effects.

She called on doctors to be more prepared for unexpected and severe reactions to trial drugs.

Mrs Witney said: “My husband was admitted to the Churchill during the early part of the trial when he began to experience the most dreadful side effects.

“There followed an unimaginable nightmare in which for over a week until his death he endured huge discomfort and pain with little care provided to alleviate his distress.

“They are willing guinea pigs who put their trust in these people. They shouldn’t be let down.

“I wish to see the clinical trials system changed so that there is a contingency plan firmly in place the next time someone has a severe reaction to an experimental drug.

“Andy should not have been on a general ward and the trial budget should have allowed for funding ensuring that any trials patient has available to them 24-hour nursing care.

“This is not an unreasonable request.”

Mr Witney was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2005, but had survived longer than expected due to his age and fitness.

He embarked on three drug trials in July 2009 after exhausting all other treatment options.

The first two were not successful, and the third, which he began on August 10 last year, caused his health to deteriorate rapidly.

Mrs Witney found her husband in hospital unclothed and covered in his own excrement.

She was forced to nurse him herself due to staff shortages and said drugs were delivered late.

Prof Mark Middleton told the inquest at Oxford Coroner’s Court yesterday he should have prescribed higher doses of medication sooner, to alleviate the side effects, but was mindful of the possibility of affecting Mr Witney’s breathing and consciousness levels during the daytime.

At the inquest yesterday, coroner Nicholas Gardiner recorded death due to mesothelioma but said the trial drugs may well have accelerated his death.

In a letter to Mrs Witney in December, Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Trust chief executive Sir Jonathan Michael wrote: “We regret that we did not provide Mr Witney with a high standard of care during the final days of his life and for the distress and suffering this caused you both.

“I can assure you that the trust has examined the issues you have raised very carefully and is making changes as a result of your husband’s experience.”

eallen@oxfordmail.co.uk l Comment: Page 10