An elderly man who passed away at Noble's Hospital after a serious medical condition was overlooked, died of natural causes.

That was the verdict recorded by coroner Michael Moyle at an inquest on 74-year-old Roy Frederick Thomas, who was admitted on February 4 this year, with severe pain in his abdomen.

Mr Thomas. who had a history of serious medical problems, underwent an operation the day after his admission, but died the following day.

The inquest heard how Mr Thomas had been suffering pain in his abdomen for many weeks.

Duty doctors at Noble's ordered an X-ray, but failed to spot a vital dark line which could have allowed them to diagnose peritonitis.

Senior surgeon Mudhafar Alhiwidi told Mr Moyle the X-ray was very difficult to interpret and it was only by examining Mr Thomas closely when he came on duty the next morning that he was able to correctly diagnose what was wrong.

Mr Alhiwidi told the inquest he operated on Mr Thomas but was not surprised to hear he had passed away, as the complications from sepsis infection were severe.

Mr Moyle concluded there were errors made by staff but the death was not a result of negligence, and had Mr Thomas been correctly diagnosed, the outcome was likely to have been the same.