Woman dies after gall stone not detected
Mrs Jones was suffering with vomiting and diarrhoea and went to see her GP. The GP diagnosed gastroenteritis but when her condition continued to worsen Mrs Jones went to the out of hours GP clinic at Dewsbury Hospital. She received an inadequate assessment and was sent home despite being dehydrated, barely able to walk and seriously ill.
On returning home, Mrs Jones collapsed and was taken to hospital by ambulance. Upon assessment she was noted to have an acute abdomen and dehydration. She underwent exploratory surgery to identify the causes of her problems.
It was identified that she had a gall stone which had perforated her gall bladder and had lodged in her jejunum, causing a blockage of her intestine. Mrs Jones never recovered, and died upon coming out of surgery. Had Mrs Jones been admitted to hospital earlier then it is likely that she would have been operated on earlier and survived the incident.
A claim was brought on behalf of Mrs Jones’ widow and also on behalf of Mrs Jones’ estate with the help of Margaret Ryan from the Leeds Clinical Negligence team. The case settled before going to court with compensation from the Defendant of £39,500.