PLASTIC surgeons continued operating on a woman’s nose even after she had a heart attack, keeping ambulance staff waiting for an hour, an inquest heard.

Kelly McClure, known to friends as Kat, suffered from antithrombin III deficiency – a rare blood disorder - but her condition was not discussed by doctors until the day of the operation.

During a two-day inquest Southwark Coroner’s Court heard doctors continued operating on Mrs McClure after her cardiac arrest at the Belvedere Clinic on November 22 2005.

Sales executive Mrs McClure, who paid £5,800 for chin and nose improvements, never regained consciousness, dying six months later after her brain was starved of oxygen.

The inquest was told how a consultant haematologist had warned of a serious risk but anaesthetist Dr Ahmed el Sayed Moustafa was not informed.

Dr Moustafa, 73, agreed to Mrs McClure's surgery despite knowing she suffered from antithrombin III deficiency which he had never encountered before.

Dr Edward Latimer-Sayer told the inquest he had nearly finished the nose operation when the patient had her heart attack.

He told the court he had “no expertise” in dealing with cardiac arrests, and continued to stitch Mrs McClure's nose “with strong encouragement from Dr Moustafa”.

Ambulance technician Julie Carpenter told the hearing the crew were kept waiting for almost an hour after being told doctors were “just finishing off” the surgery.

Fellow paramedic Charlie Dowd said the pair were “mystified” by Dr Moustafa's decision to continue with the operation.

Dr David Royston, a consultant anaesthetist, said that Mrs McClure would have survived if it had not been for dithering by the surgical team after paramedics arrived.

And suggestions by Dr Latimer-Sayer that damage to Mrs McClure's left ventricle had been present prior to the operation were also dismissed.

He said: “We certainly didn't discover that she had a poor heart after 24 hours following her arrest.”

At the end of the inquest deputy coroner Dr Adela Williams said: “I have to say, in all my years in practice I have never been faced with a case where there has been so little reliable documentation.

“I refer particularly to this long period of delay after the ambulance arrived, which I do not believe has been adequately explained.

“The limited documentation that is available has been stated by the doctors who made it to be unreliable.

“We are left with inconsistent evidence, and this inevitably creates a real doubt about what occurred.”

Her narrative verdict read: “Mrs McClure died as a result of a hypoxic brain injury as a result of cardiac arrest during rhinoplastic surgery and/or the management immediately after that arrest”.

Following the hearing, Mr Latimer-Sayer approached Mrs McClure's father Fred Laughton to apologise.

But Mr Laughton, 66, later told reporters: “I will not take a 'sorry'. I don't take 'sorry’.”

Mrs McClure is survived by husband David, who now lives in Florida.

The General Medical Council has imposed an interim suspension order on anaesthetist Dr Moustafa while it investigates his practise.