Lack of treatment to abdomen results in septic shock

Alan weighed normally in the region of nine to ten stones, but a few weeks after the blood tests he was now weighing approximately six stones due to the severity of the diarrhoea. His appetite was severely reduced because of the pain in his abdomen. The GP attended later that day and arranged for an ambulance to take him to Good Hope Hospital following the blood test results which showed a raised white cell count and elevated -reactive protein together with marginally abnormal liver function tests. He had been experiencing diarrhoea up to twelve times a day for three weeks. Alan was taken to the emergency assessment unit and placed on a saline drip.  He had further blood tests and an abdominal x-ray.

The next day Alan was jaundiced and his family members described him as being in obvious pain, but felt that he was not being given very much attention by the nursing staff. A CT scan of the abdomen was performed and Alan remained on the saline drip but no antibiotics were administered.  The surgical team advised that the urine output should be monitored and to carry out repeat bloods although these do not appear to have been taken. The surgical team stated that Alan should be treated as having acute colitis (chronic digestive disease).

By the following day he was still in the emergency assessment unit and his condition was getting gradually worse. He was hardly eating at all and his diarrhoea was extremely severe. He was continuing on the saline drip, but was still not given any antibiotics.

The results of the abdominal scan concluded that there was nothing wrong with the heart, liver or lungs but there was inflammation in the colon. A colonoscopy and a biopsy were considered to rule out malignancy.

A few days later Alan was moved to a different ward, still on a saline drip, but he continued to not eat. The diarrhoea and pain were persisting and he had an excessively rapid heartbeat. A second surgical opinion was sought and again they advised that he be given conservative colitis management.

A couple of days after this Alan was told he would need to have a colonoscopy and to be prepared for an enema to be performed. Shortly after this procedure he suffered a cardiac arrest and required resuscitation. A decision was made to proceed to laparotomy (open surgery) during which they discovered gross septic shock (a serious medical condition caused by decreased tissue perfusion and oxygen delivery as a result of infection) and sadly Alan died shortly afterwards.

An inquest into Alan’s death was opened several months afterwards by a coroner in Birmingham. He concluded that there had been clear failures in the way that Good Hope Hospital had dealt with Alan and to his mind, they were gross failures. He recorded that Alan had died from natural causes to which neglect contributed.

With the help of clinical negligence solicitor Mandy Luckman a five figure sum was awarded after the Defendant Trust accepted liability for Alan’s death.