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I believe my mum's death was avoidable

Posted By Despairing still

"I believe my mum's death was avoidable"

About: County Hospital Louth / Trauma and orthopaedics Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust

(as a relative),

My mum died because of what I believe to be multiple negligence.

I was with her in hospital daily for 5 months after a car accident, in which she broke both knees and a hip. As an academic researcher I witnessed first hand so many errors that compounded her original injuries, such as MRSA poorly diagnosed and treated that led to septicaemia. Nonetheless she was discharged home and abandoned, to be readmitted 10 days before her death with delirium and raging fever.

They had told her she needed to eat more egg whites because her liver function was poor! Even when readmitted, she was not given the attention she needed for the root cause of her infection (in her hip).

The pain was 11/10 and she died of a heart attack because of infection, pain, stress and neglect at 72 years old.

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Responses

Response from Jennie Negus, Head of Patient Experience, United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust 11 years ago
Jennie Negus
Head of Patient Experience,
United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust

Submitted on 11/10/2012 at 13:00
Published on Care Opinion at 16:16

picture of Jennie Negus

I am so very sorry for your evident distress and your username in itself speaks volumes. I would like to offer you my sincere condolences and my apologies.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust provides some services at Louth Hospital but does not provide all and in order to either investigate further ourselves or work with colleagues at Louth it would be really helpful if we could have a little more information. You have had such a difficult time and lost your mum and we need to be able to find the right peeople to answer your questions and concerns. Could I ask you to either contact me via our customer care team on (01522) 573969 or e-mail customercare@ulh.nhs.uk so that we can help?

Sincerely

Jennie Negus. Deputy Director of Patient Services

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful
Response from Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust 11 years ago
Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust

Submitted on 29/10/2012 at 08:59
Published on Care Opinion at 09:01

Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust, as providers of some services at County Hospital Louth, would like to add our sincere condolences and apologies to those of United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust on the loss of your mother and the distress suffered by both of you.

We work in partnership with our colleagues at the hospital. Along with them we are keen to understand what went wrong so that we may have an opportunity to make improvements for other patients. We sincerely hope you will use the contact details provided by Jennie Negus so that we may jointly investigate and respond to you directly.

Update posted by Despairing still (a relative)

I acknowledge the replies but time has passed and now it's too late for help.

I researched the matter fully through all avenues. Ended up with a 5-day Fitness to Practice case with the GMC. The GMC (who took up my case) informed me that 1 in 1000 cases get to that stage; everyone else gives up or are silenced in some way.

Even at the GMC, I feel I was faced with lies and cover ups and arrogant, persistent sharks of legal representatives from the medics defence people. Really, what hope for justice for an average person without the forensic research (PhD) background that I have? And after all of that, I was told I was 'successful' as one consultant received a 5-year warning on his record.

Maybe the hospital has improved as a result? I doubt it, having been there recently to visit patients. My only goal is to help make the case that people's lives are devastated by negligence - they are scarred forever - as I have been and will continue to be.

I actually wrote the 'opinion' on the anniversary of Mum's death. Even yesterday I had another nightmare. You know not what you do...

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