Hospital fails to spot malaria

03 Feb 2009

An inquest has heard that a man died after medics failed to test him for malaria, despite his concerns that he might have contracted the disease on holiday.

Richard Clayton, 45, contacted Heartlands Hospital as he was worried that he had contracted the disease while on holiday in the Gambia.

Mr Clayton was suffering from headaches, vomiting, diarrhoea, and lethargy. He also informed medical staff that he had been bitten on the neck by a mosquito while on holiday.

Despite this, doctors diagnosed Mr Clayton with food poisoning and didn’t offer him a blood test for malaria.

Dr Christopher Ellis, a senior physician at the hospital, told the deputy coroner that failure to offer this blood test affected Mr Clayton’s chances of recovery. The deputy coroner, Christopher Ball, recorded a narrative verdict.

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