Bee Gees accuse brother's doctors of 'mistakes'

Maurice Gibb's brothers said yesterday their "quest" was to find if mistakes were made in the medical treatment of the singer, who died on Sunday.

In an emotional interview, the "devastated" remaining Bee Gees spoke affectionately of their sibling. Maurice's twin, Robin, questioned the care he received at Mount Sinai Medical Centre in Miami, saying: "We believe mistakes were made and time was wasted."

He added: "The fact that they had to operate on Maurice during the shock of cardiac arrest is questionable. We will pursue every factor, every element, every second of the timeline, of the final hours of Maurice's life. We will pursue that relentlessly. That will be our quest from now on."

The 53-year-old was taken to hospital on Wednesday with a stomach complaint – twisted intestines possibly due to a birth defect, his family said. In the early hours of the following morning he suffered a heart attack and surgeons decided to operate immediately, removing 80 per cent of his intestines.

On Friday the family thought he was on the mend but he suddenly deteriorated. "None of the sequence of events have yet made sense to us," said his older brother, Barry, yesterday. The family hoped to hold the funeral in Miami before a memorial service in England, Pete Bassett, their spokesman, said.

The Bee Gees, who began their singing careers as the Brothers Gibb in the 1950s, were best known for the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack in the 1970s.

Robin and Barry Gibb said they intended to produce another album despite the loss of their brother. Barry said: "The Bee Gees will not disintegrate because we've lost Mo. We will do it in Maurice's name."