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This article was published on June 4th, 2014
A family has been left distraught at the death of their 61 year old great grandmother, which they believe was caused by numerous errors by staff at the Blackpool Victoria Hospital.
The family has a history of pulmonary embolism which killed the patients’ mother and grandmother and an inquest heard how the medical staff failed to note this essential information at admission. The patients daughter claims she made doctors aware of the family history when her mother was first admitted. The inquest found that her medical notes do not show this crucial information until she has been in hospital a few days.
When the patient was admitted to hospital with severe pain in her knee, she was prescribed special anti-embolism stockings to help prevent clots forming in her legs. The inquest heard how doctors did not insist that she wear them as they felt she was in too much pain at the time. The error to not insist on wearing the stockings may have hastened the development of DVT.
It also emerged that the 61-year-old was not weighed accurately to determine the quantity of medication to prescribe as she was unable to stand at the time. The coroner highlighted concerns over the use of potentially inaccurate weight estimates and plans to write to hospital bosses.
He said: “I remain somewhat concerned this issue of how to obtain reliable information about the weight of a patient could lead to future deaths.”
It was heard how a doctor prescribed her medication based only on the patients estimate and then breached hospital protocol when upping her dosage by overwriting her current prescription rather than issuing a new one.
Unfortunately, staff discovered a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in her thigh, four days after admission, which eventually led to the pulmonary embolism which killed her.
If the family’s medical history has been recorded and considered at admission then treatment, such as a scan, could have been speeded up and early diagnosis and might have prevented her death.
The family plan to launch a medical negligence claim against the Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundations Trust, which runs the facility.
Thorneycroft Solicitors have acted on behalf of many patients who have received substandard medical care. No matter how minor or major your medical negligence claim, our goal is to offer a service that delivers results. Our solicitors offer a free initial interview in order to review your specific circumstances and assess the viability of your claim.
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