AN eleven-month-old baby died after complications during a surgery that was meant to extend his life, an inquest heard.

Mahir Chowdhury died after doctors stitched an artery to stop him bleeding to death during surgery, only for the stitch to tighten his coronary artery leading to heart failure.

He was born with a congenital defect that left his heart with one pumping valve rather than two.

It meant he required two operations at Southampton General Hospital during his first few months of life to ensure blood pumped around his body properly.

After more scans doctors found blood was not pumping properly to his left lung and decided to operate again last July to insert a tube and restore the connection, only for the bleeding to develop midway through the procedure.

Doctors said he would have died had they not stopped the bleeding but his parents Tofazzul and Fatima, of Dorset, argue they were not fully informed of the operation's risks when they gave their consent.

The inquest at Southampton continues on Thursday.