Pneumonia caused by hospital mistake led to patient death
Anna Manning, an expert in medical law at Irwin Mitchell Solicitors, has urged the NHS and hospital bosses to learn from the mistakes, which caused the death of a patient when he was wrongly given food, despite being kept nil by mouth.
In February 2008, Mark Ullyatt had been in the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield, and was recovering well from surgery to remove his bladder and prostate gland and was meant to be kept nil by mouth. However, nursing staff at the hospital subsequently fed him a small amount of food and water caused him to aspirate from his stomach. He then developed pneumonia and sadly died while in the intensive care unit.
Mr Ullyatt’s sister, Michelle Hilley, said: "The whole family was devastated by Mark's death. Throughout his life he always faced difficulties as a result of the road accident but he was a fighter and was really well spirited.
"We have been very patient and have waited for more than two years for the Trust to acknowledge that it made mistakes while caring for Mark.
"We only hope that things change so that no one else has to go through what Mark did and what our family has."
Irwin Mitchell negotiated an out-of-court settlement for £25,000 from the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which admitted that mistakes were made in the lead up to Mark's death.
Anna Manning, a Medical Law expert at Irwin Mitchell, said: "This is an extremely sad case as Mr Ullyatt was making a good recovery after surgery until the error in feeding him and providing him with fluid.
"Nothing can ever be done to turn back the clock, but we welcome the hospital’s decision to acknowledge that mistakes were made in Mark’s care by providing the family with a letter of apology.
"Patient safety must be the priority for the NHS. This was a basic and avoidable error that had tragic consequences for Mr Ullyatt and his family.
"Irwin Mitchell have repeatedly called for improvements in safety standards and will continue to campaign for the victims we represent until simple mistakes like these are eradicated."