Son Neglected In Hospital

[lady-in-red]

no nothing scarletpimpernel, just that there is no documentation of him being in ITU but we have photos we took of him in ITU

[ScarletPimpernel]

Sadly, it does not surprise me that patients sometimes suffer in NHS intensive care facilities, particularly in Foundation Trusts where I gather there is a financial incentive not to turn patients away even when understaffed. I have some sympathy for the nursing staff, who are often scared to whistleblow. The management culture in many Trusts does not encourage staff to speak out.

 

The amount of paperwork generated by an ITU patient is enormous. It's extremely hard to believe that everything could just go missing. Have you or your solicitor explicitly asked them what has happened to it, and/or whether or not they have conducted a search?

 

They should have sent a discharge summary to your son's GP. Did they do this, and if so, have you seen it?

 

You say that your son was flown to London; have you had sight of the transfer notes? Prior to the flight there will need to have been a referral from the sending hospital, and there will also need to have been a referral to the receiving hospital. I have been involved in many inter-hospital transfer, and in many cases notes were photocopied; at the very least a detailed summary was provided.

[lady-in-red]

no no one has told us about any transfer notes didnt know we were allowed to see them as everything to do with a persons files are so secretive to the trst they dont even like you reading their white board, we did see the discharge note because i opened the letter photocopied it then sealed the letter back haha it said developed respiratory failure, 2 aspirations pnemonia, & H1N1 infection, required ECMO, developed pseudamonas,

[lady-in-red]

where shall i ask for the transfer notes who do i ask for this, it was leicester hospital teams who came to fly him to london they were a specialist team who work the ecmo

[lady-in-red]

we did sign for him to be flown and put on ecmo we had to sign but never saw any other paper we also had to have the DNR taken off my son before he was flown to london because the leicester team said they would resus my son if they had to on the plane

[ScarletPimpernel]

The solicitor should be able to obtain the notes; alternatively your son (or you with the relevant form signed) can make a Subject Access Request. If the Leicester team were from the receiving hospital, one SAR to the Trust there will be enough.

 

Flying a ventilated patient whose respiratory system is compromised is not easy; just from a professional interest standpoint I'd be interested to know whether this was a fixed wing or helicopter flight, and what aeromedical training the team has undertaken.

[lady-in-red]

hi scarletpimpernel thanks for your post, the team were the coordinaters who took my son to brompton he was flown by plane to heathrow then picked up by ambulance to brompton hospital, they fly all over this team, ecmo as you know is a special machine and only specialist nurses can use this, and are taught by leicestershire ecmo team, as they told me when i asked for the DNR to be taken off my son before he flew with them i said" will you resus my son please" the doctor said of course we have never lost a patient in flight before andwe are not to about lose you son, the team had also flown to ireland in the morning to bring a man of 55 to brompton who had swineflu, then a young mum from glasgow 2 days later with swineflu out of 9 swineflu cases my son was the only one who servived

[lady-in-red]

hello there hope your well, just a question for you , you know i said jamie had a pressure sore over his right eye, well we have bromptons notes, and in them blackpool calls his pressure sore a heamatoma, whats the difference it actually says heamatoma on all his notes are they the same thing my husband john says they aren,t,

[Night Owl]

Hi Glitterlady,

 

slow progress but it sounds like you have paperwork filtering through.

 

A haematoma is caused when there is damage to blood vessels and the blood leaks into the surrounding tissues causing discolouration of the skin.

Basically what we see is a bruise. This damage to blood vessels can happen through direct insult or injury, a knock or a fall, or severe pinching of the skin.

It can also be seen when the skin is under extreme pressure such as imobility of a limb or part of the body.

 

Has the reason for the pressure sore/haematoma to your son been explained to you fully and satisfactorily?

 

Good luck x

[lady-in-red]

Hi there, no they have never explained it they told us when he was in prone and they went to turn him something went seriously wrong but they didnt say what, we thought they had drooped him on to the matress as it was the day they changed his matress, and his face was massive he had a cut across his nose and blood coming from his nostrils, and his lip was all split it all seems to coinside with this heamatoma, but this is the first time we have seen this in writing, no wonder brompton kept asking us what happened to his eyebrow if it was a pressure sore why did brompton keep asking us what happened to his head maybe thats why they took pics, we are asking agin for that pic from brompton as they sent us his notes but no pic so we phoned pals so lets see what happens, thank you for that night owl very much appreciated & bless youxx

[lady-in-red]

hi just a follow up, brompton have the photo and are sending it to us, we now have some of jamies notes which show he had a haematoma from being in prone, we have also found that he contracted swineflu in hospital but they didnt tell us because he was in ITU and not in a room we didnt have gowns on or masks and could have spread this to families in the waiting room, the hospital told us that they do not swab for H1N1 its not their policy, but in his notes they took a swab and it was positive why do they lie so much to us,

[Night Owl]

Hi Glitterlady,

 

Well done for getting more on this case.

Any luck with PALS and any luck on knowing if they completed an incident report on the injury (Haematoma) sustained?

 

Tetsing for Swineflu is different in different hospitals. At the height of the Swineflu scare we tested everone when they triggered certain criteria - unexplained temperature, productive cough etc....

 

Good luck x

[EIVAD5]

Hello

 

Just to give you some background into my experience - the medical records are key - if they are lost any solicitor will struggle to find a case - I have tried - and still fighting after 2 years.....my blog - "missing medical records" gives more information.

 

Let me know if you need any advise

[lady-in-red]

well in the notes we have got it says couldnt fill in an incident form because the office was lost, thats all the mention of the haematoma, they wrote in his notes family have been told jamie has a haematoma and they were ok with this absoulte liers, why do they think we have been digging for a year now if we knew the answer, when they found the haematoma, they didnt even dress it or put anything on it or even drain it they are disgusting and played it down in his notes, as i said before we were never told he had swineflu in ITU really ITU should have been closed or jamie moved, all those other patients and their families were in danger, as we also were not wearing masks we did in brompton straightaway and was gowned every time we visited him right up till they sent him back to local, even though he was cleared of the swineflu

[frankieg]

From what you have said here you are going to have problems proving neglect- clinical negligence. just a doctor apologizing isn't a good basis to prove negligence. Take your sons pneumonia, just them not giving him antibiotics isn't enough. The hospital will argue that he had aspiration - chemical -not bacterial pneumonia and while some doctors will give prophylactic antibiotics to a patient who has aspirated an equal amount wouldn't. A sputum specimen showing bacteria present might help link up the lack of antibiotics to his pneumonia- but again if his kidneys and other organs were failing they will claim that antibiotics couldn't be given without making his condition worse. They will try and show even if he did have pneumonia, it isnt the reason for his continued respiratory problems. its called cause and effect and its very difficult to prove. Its a court case where you the prosecuter are trying to prove beyond reasonable doubt that they the defendant are guilty in front of a judge bias toward the medical profession. It can be done, but it will be frustrating and take years- I've been trying for a year and still am still in the complaints procedure. But please ,if you are paying this solicitor direct i would approach some others , experts in clinical negligence- i think this one may be taking your money without actually having a good basis for the case.

[lady-in-red]

thankyou frankieg, i understand what your saying, but even though he overdosed, it should have flushed through him, he should have been given antibiotics straightaway to stop any infection in his lungs, they also put him in prone for 17 hurs, when they turned him to supine he had a huge haematoma on his forhead, the vent tube had cut his lip open, his nose was cut, we were told it went seriously wrong when they turned him, we have pictures of him in ITU the pics do not look nice, when he was transfered by plane to london to another hospital that hospital also took pics of his face, they said his hygene was very poor at the other hospital and he had infections in his cuts they also took a pic of his private parts because the local hospital didnt put his urine catheter in the proper place and he had a very bad infection there also, im not giving up, and we are paying for this solicitor this is a new solicitor, i know they will never admit the neglect in front of anyone but at least i know what they did because they admitted neglect to me, i will take these pics to the papers and show people just what some of these hospitals do and this was all done in ITU, they even tied his wrists to the bed this is barbarick,

[lady-in-red]

he also got swineflu while in their hospital they told us they do not swab for swineflu yet in some notes we have they did take a swab and it was posotive for swineflu this is what failed his lungs

[lady-in-red]

we have alot more evidence than they know of, no they wont ever admit neglect they all stick together they are not caring people at all, they would sooner my son have died then get found out, but when they see what we have and from another hospital as well, even if we dont prove neglect, we get to show them that we know dfifferent, then the press will have a field day with their trust, and to have photos of it all we cant lie not like them they are full of lies

[frankieg]

From my posting i don't want you to think am not on your side, believe me I am. I am a nurse been one for 40 years and from what you've said your sons treatment was woefully substandard. Its just from my own experience over the last 13 months there seems to be a big line between knowing negligence occurred and proving it ! What you have to understand is that your complaint must be whittled down to the basic facts that A caused B and B was the reason for C and X led to Y which is why Z occurred which is the only way you can win a case. All the other things that appear 'not right' to you- because they can be argued away as unavoidable- will just detract up your main complaint which is the untreated pneumonia cuing lung damage. Of course everything else is important to you because it shows a completely unacceptable level of care that, if he was on my ward would not be tolerated but in a court of law- where it really counts some of these things will be explained to the judges satisfaction.In my dads case I originally made a 12 point complaint about his care , each point fully backed up by proof from his chart, hospital letters and from the NH and NICE websites, now its been reduced to just one-, the delay before he received his emergency surgery causing his continued ill health and death. Again I'm on your side but I'm not the judge.

[lady-in-red]

no please dont think like that i know you were trying to help me and i appreciate your help and honesty,, the trouble with my sons case its so many things they didnt do properly their words, and yes i know its going to be very difficult to prove, if i cant then as long i can give them a big kick up their backsides i will feel a lot better, he had a bang on the head 5 years ago and was sent home with a bleed on his brain, the hospital a different one to this one said he was never at their hospital and we couldnt prove he was, but a piece of paper turned up unexpectly and it was his hospital number the day he was admitted, the scan they did on his head, it was all there, so now they have had to hold their hand up, but for 5 years my son has had mental health problems which has devasted us all as a family, he has to be watched 24/7 now because of his suicides, he has organic personality disorder caused through the blood clot left on his brain to go rotten, all this has been caused through hospitals neglect, he hasnt got a life now hes 35 years old and has lost so much, they neglected my son, and i want them to know it thankyou for your help i really do appreciate it honestlyxxx

[frankieg]

Oh I know how you feel, wanting someone, anyone, to admit they didn't do things as they should. I say get them in any way you can -thats what I'm doing. i wont stop till i have tried everything to make the hospital admit my dads care was below an acceptable standard and he gets the apology he deserved.. One thing I'm wondering about was the personality disorder you son developed because of the blood clot in his brain. How long have you -or he - been aware there being an abnormal scan? If its less then 3 years or you only became aware of the personality changes 3 years ago. you might think of starting proceedings against the hospital involved- in certain circumstances you have much longer then 3 years. That really sounds like what actually started all this - a clear cause and effect- he had the brain injury it wasn't treated and caused the personality changes that triggered the depression that was why he tried to commit suicide and that led to the pneumonia etc, etc. ..

Say I've been reading a really informative book 'Health Care Law' by Jonathan Montgomery and is well worth reading.Its a bit out of date but it helped me understand whats involved to prove negligence occurred .

[lady-in-red]

wow thankyou very much, i will get that book maybe they might have it on amazon so ill try later, as i said his bang on the head was 5 years next month but because he was only diagnosed this april 2010 he can take them to court, he was never diognosed they actually said he had sorry cant spell this schitzaphrenia, and he has been taking tabs for this for 4 years, seraqual, hes now on quentap something, he lost his marriage because of the way he had changed, he has very bad moodswing, and paces about, laughes so loud it hurts your ears,, is usless with money, and never feels bad about what he has done to us all it just doesnt sink in, he has no emotions, and yet before he had his own business, his own house, and family, he lives with us back at home, he cant trust himself not to do it again, he drinks heavly as well at home although we do tell him off about it, then he wants to have a go at us all, its very hard to cope with as well but we have to there isnt any help for our son, the case for his head is doing ok, and his solcitor said it will be very substantial amount to him, because its for the rest of his life, and we wont be around for ever to take care of him, i just want our local to say sorry to us and tell us what happened the day they turned my son from prone to supine and it went seriously wrong what went wrong thats all we want to know, im going to have alook for that book thankyou again let me know how your case is doing as i will also and thankyou for your helpxx

[lady-in-red]

Hey i just ordered that book on ebay £1.00 and £2.75 postage not bad thanks for that

[my-spirit-soars-free]

I hope you won't hate me for this

 

You yourself have said that you feel the lung damage was due to the swine flu. No judge is likely to blame the hospital for your sons having caught flu, it is the sort of infection that can be caught anywhere, your son may even have been incubating it before he went in.

 

I am not saying that the hospital were not negligent - just that you may have trouble showing that they caused the problems. Part of the problem is that if the hospital can find other doctors who treat the same set of circumstances in the same way then it is considered not negligent.

 

For instance, say that best practice is that after operation A you should give antibiotics because of high risk of infection. That is documented, etc, but there are 5 hospitals in the country that don't give antibiotics. That would mean that not giving antibiotics was not "negligent", just a difference of opinion - even if someone dies of an infection that would have been prevented in a different hospital.

 

Could the bruise have been caused at home, before he was found - bruises can take some time to "show"?

 

Why was the blood clot on the brain initially not treated? What had caused the fall?

 

Please don't feel that I am saying these things are what happened, just that you would need to prove for every single thing that the hospital caused it by their treatment, that there was no other possible cause, and that no other hospital/doctor would have treated the condition in that way. That is hard to do, and it will take a lot of your energy for many years while you pursue the case.

 

At the same time as pursuing the case against the hospital, your son needs your support now. He needs you to fight for his health care now, his benefits entitlement, his mental health teams support - and I suspect you know, better than I, just how much strength and energy you need for that sort of thing.

[lady-in-red]

Hi my spirit soars free, nice name:) yes i can see where your coming from about the swineflu, and each hospital have different policys, but why didnt they tell us he had this i saw the swine flu swab in his notes it was posotive, but we were told they do not swab swineflu at their hospital?, no he never had no bruise on his head before went in that hospital its a haematoma also on his notes, it states in his notes he was found with this on his head we have proof it wasnt there before, he was hit over the head with an instrument he saw no one just the bang on his head he passed out, they were going to treat him , they told us he was going to be taken to another hospital who deal with brain probelms they couldnt do it, it had to be drilled then drained, but 2 hours later they said your ok you can go home now and gave him paracetamol and sent him home, he was in such a state and couldnt lift his head up he had pains all along his jaw, and was feeling very sick, the hospital did a CT Scan and found he had an area of ahaemorrhagic contusion was noticed on his left frontal region, slight mass effect,Blood extending along the faix in the frontal region, subarachnoidal haemorrhage also noted also noted along the right fronto-parietal region of the brain and in the right sylvian fissure, mild swelling of the brain subarachnoidal haemorrhage likely due to the trauma, this is what it says of his radiological report from the hospital, and they sent him home, im so angry with both hospital in two different areas as well, one said he was never at their hospital( the head injury) and one is lying when they admitted neglect to us, verbally yes but i heard it, and i wont let them get away with this, i will take this to the papers and with the photos we have you can clearly see one day his head is ok next day less than 24 hours he has a massive haematoma split lips, cut on his nose and another mark on his forehead how did this happen and why wont they say how it happened, they said it was neglect they said the hospital had let him down badly, they said all this verbally, to us 4 plus one of their nurses was in the room as well, now to cover up what they did they lie well photos do not lie and you can clearly see on the photos how his head was clear no marks then the next day we took more photos and there it is clear as day light the neglect