 in May 2019 with a potentially life-saving operation. Sadly the treatment became fatal after she fell ill with pancreatitis following a Mycobacterium Abscessus (M abscessus) infection. It was later found that 20 other lung condition patients contracted the same infection that summer at the Cambridgeshire hospital. Karen, from Ipswich, Suffolk, finally lost her battle with the illness in February 2020. It was later found that 20 other lung condition patients contracted the same infection that summer at the same hospital ( Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust) Anne, 65 from Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, was being treated for lung disease with the transplant in July 2019. Following her diagnosis of the bacterial infection, her condition deteriorated until her death in December 2020. The families of several patients, including those of Karen and Anne, will now attend an inquest starting on November 3 in hopes of learning more about what happened. In a joint statement, Anne's sons Anthony, 40, and Andrew, 35, said: "We thought mum's operation would be a new chapter in her life. "It's still difficult to accept she is no longer here. Having so many questions still has made trying to grieve mum){kind=link}
Karen Starling and Anne Martinez both fell ill with a bacterial infection in the summer of 2019 and died the following year – an inquest into their deaths will open on Thursday
Two women both died after receiving double lungs transplants from the same NHS hospital within weeks of one another, an inquest will hear.
Karen Starling, a mum of six, and Anne Martinez, a mum of two, fell ill with a bacterial infection after double lung transplants at Royal Papworth Hospital in the summer of 2019.
Both then died in 2020, and an inquest into their deaths will open on Thursday.
Karen, 54, was being treated for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) in May 2019 with a potentially life-saving operation.