The Hereford Times

NHS error widower cannot stay in UK

4:09pm Friday 9th May 2008

A Filipino man has lost his right to remain in Britain - because his wife was killed by an NHS blunder.

Lawyers for Arnel Cabrera, 39, have confirmed the Home Office has refused his application to stay in the UK.

Alex Rook, the solicitor who handled Mr Cabrera's immigration case, said: "This is an absolutely dreadful decision. If Arnel's wife had not been killed, the family would be living happily here.

"But because his wife is killed by one part of the Government (the -NHS), then Arnel is told by another part of the Government that he has to leave."

Mr Rook, of Irwin Mitchell, added: "I will be writing to the relevant Home Office Ministers asking them to reconsider their decision."

Mr Cabrera came to Britain in 2003 after his theatre nurse wife Mayra was recruited by the NHS to work at Great Western Hospital in Swindon.

But on May 11 2004, she died at the same hospital when a potent epidural anaesthetic was mistakenly injected into her arm rather than the space of her spinal cord in childbirth. The couple's son Zac, who survived, turns four this Sunday.

An inquest jury in Trowbridge returned a verdict earlier in February this year of unlawful killing, finding gross negligence manslaughter against Swindon & Marlborough NHS Trust and the midwife who administered the drip.

Mr Cabrera's personal injury lawyer Seamus Edney also reacted with disgust, saying: "I am staggered by this decision and embarrassed on behalf of our Government.

"Arnel was permitted to reside in Britain on the basis that his wife was working - but when she is unlawfully killed by gross negligence by the NHS, he is told he is no longer welcome."