Delay in surgery and dehydration cause woman’s death

A doctor assessed her, checking her abdomen and performing a rectal examination. The doctor said that they would do an x-ray and give Sheila some pain killers. Later that night Sheila was taken to the x-ray department and she told her husband that there had been three x-rays. However, these x-rays were not evidenced by the hospital on request.

The next morning Sheila was told by a doctor that a blood test result was negative and if another one was negative she could be discharged. Sheila saw no more doctors until the afternoon the following day when all she was asked was whether she wished to leave that day or the next. She was very uncomfortable during her stay and felt that nobody was doing anything to help her, and given that these were her only options following a second negative blood test, she decided to go home that day.

Once home, Sheila was still in pain and thought it best to go and see her GP a few days after discharge. Her GP examined her abdomen and noted right lower abdominal pain. Her abdomen was tender and there was tensing of the abdominal wall muscles and pain upon removal of pressure. He thought therefore she had appendicitis and referred her to a consultant, bypassing A&E so she could see someone immediately.

However, Sheila had to check in via A&E. Once in A&E she was checked by a doctor who queried whether she had appendicitis. Sheila was placed on the list for an appendectomy (removal of the appendix), but this was delayed by twenty four hours during which time she was ‘nil by mouth’, causing her to become very dehydrated in the meantime. By the time the operation was performed, her appendix had perforated.

Early the next morning she was found not to be breathing and required resuscitation, but this was not successful and Sheila sadly died.

Expert opinion showed that had the surgeons operated in a timely fashion and had the seriousness of Sheila’s pre-operative dehydration been noted her death could have been prevented.

With the assistance of medical negligence solicitor Mandy Luckman a five figure sum was achieved.