Compensation for widower after failure to treat his wife
Liz suffered an incarcerated hiatus hernia which was first detected by x-ray in 1991. In 2006 Liz developed sudden chest pain below her left breast and around to her neck which caused her pain when she breathed in. An x-ray was taken at Pinderfields General Hospital and Liz was discharged.
The next day Liz went back to A&E after waking up in pain. Medical staff noted tenderness in the epigastrium. On 7th January 2006 hospital staff noted that he pain had subsided and an x-ray revealed a large hiatus hernia. The consultant in charge of Liz’s care believed her problems were caused by intermittent volvulus of the hernia.
On 10th January Liz was referred to a consultant surgeon at Dewsbury General Hospital, where she was admitted on the 12th January.
The following day an endoscopy revealed a large para-oesophageal hernia. A laparoscopic repair was performed on 20th January.
By the following day Liz had developed right and left sided pleural effusions (a build up of fluid in the space surrounding the lungs).
In the early hours of 23rd January Liz was transferred to the High Dependency Unit. A chest drain was placed in the left chest under local anaesthetic and 1400ml of blood was obtained. At 0230 hours medical staff noted that Liz’s haemoglobin was 5g and four units of blood were cross-matched. No blood transfusion was provided despite the observations that Liz was losing blood.
At 0255 Liz developed a bradycardia and went into an asystolic cardiac arrest. Attempts to resuscitate her failed and she was declared to be dead at 0310. Her husband did not have chance to see her one last time before she died as her condition deteriorated so quickly.
A post-mortem revealed a substantial left haemothorax. The haemorrhage in the left side of Liz’s chest seemed to have been caused by the surgical repair site although a definitive bleeding site could not be identified. As a result of the post-mortem the matter was referred to the Coroner.
Following the referral to the Coroner’s Office, Liz’s family approached Suzanne Munroe, a medical negligence solicitor at Irwin Mitchell. At the inquest the consultant responsible for Liz’s care was critical of junior staff who had been attending to her. He specifically criticised the failure of junior staff to inform him of any of the complications which occurred, therefore prevented him from intervening in her care at such a critical time.
A narrative verdict was recorded at the inquest. A compensation claim was pursued against the Mid Yorkshire NHS Hospitals Trust.
Irwin Mitchell argued that there was a large window of opportunity in which the hospital staff could have intervened to treat Liz. Experts were consulted and their evidence showed that Liz would have lived for approximately another week had she received appropriate treatment on January 22nd. This would have allowed her husband and family to say goodbye instead of the Liz effectively being left to bleed to death.
The claim was settled for £10,000, which is the statutory bereavement award that the Liz’s husband was entitled to as a result of the failure to treat his late wife.