A WARRINGTON teenager is demanding answers after she ended up on a life support machine following a routine operation to remove her tonsils.

Sonia Wilcox also had to have six steel clips inserted into her neck and has been left with a three-and-a-half inch scar after complications following the tonsillectomy at Warrington Hospital on July 24.

The 19-year-old, who had suffered for years with tonsillitis, said a doctor came to see her the morning after the operation, but did not examine her mouth, and she was discharged the same day.

But a few days later she was dizzy, couldn't eat and felt as though there was blood at the back of her throat - due to a hole in an artery.

Her mum Linda said: "There was blood everywhere and it was squirting out of her mouth. She had already called an ambulance and when we got to A&E she was just filling up bowls of blood.

"We were told that she must have caught an infection over the weekend, though she had not left the house."

When Sonia was brought back into hospital she was taken into theatre and doctors entered through the side of her neck in order to clamp the artery and stop it from bleeding.

Sonia had to be given six units of blood and she was put on a life support machine to see if her injury would heal itself - which it did.

She also had to attend Walton Hospital for checks to make sure no blood clots had developed. Alhough Sonia is recovering physically, she is now suffering from nightmares and anxiety.

She also says that while she was in hospital, one of the nurses suggested to her that her artery could have been clipped during her original tonsillectomy operation, though consultants maintain that the injury was caused by an infection.

"When I was on the ward I was really upset but felt that the staff didn't care," she said.

"All I wanted when I woke up on the life support machine was someone to tell me not to worry and I got nothing.

"It has really put me off going back into hospital - even to have a baby."

A statement from North Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust said although it was prevented from commenting on individual cases because of the need to preserve patient confidentiality, it does take any complaint about its care and treatment of patients extremely seriously.

Kath Holbourn, acting chief executive, said: "Naturally, we are concerned if any patients are dissatisfied with the health care we provide and would urge them to discuss any problems directly with us so that we can do our best to resolve them."