Woman dies after power cut halts heart surgery in UK hospital

A 77-year-old woman died during heart surgery at Scunthorpe General Hospital in the UK after a sudden loss of electrical power, an inquest has found.

Jean Dye was undergoing a procedure to treat cardiac disease on 7 September when the outage occurred just as surgeons were preparing to insert cardiac stents. The 10-minute power loss was triggered when the hospital’s Emergency Power Off (EPO) circuit was activated, overriding backup systems. Staff were unable to restore power until an engineer arrived to reset the system.

Greater Lincolnshire senior coroner Paul Smith said the delay was a “critical factor” in Dye’s death, noting she would likely have survived if power had been restored more quickly. He added that similar accidental EPO activations have been recorded in other hospitals over the past year.

The coroner has sent a Prevention of Future Deaths report to NHS England, urging a review of EPO circuit operation guidelines and related staff training to avoid similar incidents. NHS England has until 28 August to respond with planned actions.