Historical NHS Negligence

[DeanR32]

Good evening

Today would have been my fathers birthday. He would have been 68, but unfortunately he passed away 27 years ago due to what I/we believed to be gross negligence whilst in hospital for what would be perceived to be a very straightforward case of gallstones (which was eventually discovered during his autopsy).

Long story short, to find out what was a matter with my father, the hospital decided to put a camera down his throat to have a look in his stomach. Unfortunately on the way down, they severed a major artery somewhere between his throat and stomach. As you can imagine, he bled profusely, which they couldn’t stem.

Because my dad was losing so much blood, the gave him blood transfusions to keep him topped up and hopefully the blood would clot in the artery to stop the loss. Unfortunately the blood they gave him (and as you can imagine, they gave him quite a bit of it!) was infected, leading to hepatitis B, septicaemia to name a few (I’ve ordered a copy of his death certificate to clarify any other diseases and infections). I can assure you he didn’t have any of these when he was admitted into hospital.

This was in December 1996, and there wasn’t any negligence case to answer at the time. I think there is, and would love someone to put their hands up and take responsibility for my dads death, as there isn’t anyone who was held responsible.

After 27 years, I need to find this out and hold someone accountable for his death. I can imagine it has more than likely been too long to get to the bottom of this (I’m sure it has to be done in a certain timeframe).

Would anyone knowledgeable be able to offer any words of wisdom as to what my next moves should be? Pretty much every death has someone responsible in some form or another. It eats me up that my fathers death doesn’t.

Absolutely any help/advice welcome

Thanks

[Sebring440]

DeanR32 said:

Good evening

Today would have been my fathers birthday. He would have been 68, but unfortunately he passed away 27 years ago due to what I/we believed to be gross negligence whilst in hospital for what would be perceived to be a very straightforward case of gallstones (which was eventually discovered during his autopsy).

Long story short, to find out what was a matter with my father, the hospital decided to put a camera down his throat to have a look in his stomach. Unfortunately on the way down, they severed a major artery somewhere between his throat and stomach. As you can imagine, he bled profusely, which they couldn’t stem.

Because my dad was losing so much blood, the gave him blood transfusions to keep him topped up and hopefully the blood would clot in the artery to stop the loss. Unfortunately the blood they gave him (and as you can imagine, they gave him quite a bit of it!) was infected, leading to hepatitis B, septicaemia to name a few (I’ve ordered a copy of his death certificate to clarify any other diseases and infections). I can assure you he didn’t have any of these when he was admitted into hospital.

This was in December 1996, and there wasn’t any negligence case to answer at the time. I think there is, and would love someone to put their hands up and take responsibility for my dads death, as there isn’t anyone who was held responsible.

After 27 years, I need to find this out and hold someone accountable for his death. I can imagine it has more than likely been too long to get to the bottom of this (I’m sure it has to be done in a certain timeframe).

Would anyone knowledgeable be able to offer any words of wisdom as to what my next moves should be? Pretty much every death has someone responsible in some form or another. It eats me up that my fathers death doesn’t.

Absolutely any help/advice welcome

Thanks

Are you after compensation?

[Spitfire2]

In 2012 a family member (well ex wife's family member) died. Long and complex story which I wont go into. A negligence case kicked off on a no win/no fee basis led by a respected firm who would not take on such a case without a belief the case coukd succeed.

Took until 2023 to finally fail - this particular case went all the way to the Supreme Court having been through both houses of the Scottish Court of Session.

10 painful years for all involved and that was a case with a specific individual accused if negligence for specific reasons.

After 30 years, i doubt you have any prospect of such an approach and would have to fund exfremely expensive proceedings yourself, if you could even get them off the ground.

In short - its not worth putting yourself and your family through thst st.

[Zeeky]

The time limit for bringing a claim in negligence is 3 years from date of death or discovery of facts showing negligence. If negligence was considered at the time and no claim was advised why would that have changed?

[Miocene]

Zeeky said:

The time limit for bringing a claim in negligence is 3 years from date of death or discovery of facts showing negligence. If negligence was considered at the time and no claim was advised why would that have changed?

Complicated slightly when children are involved - someone will no doubt correct me, but I think it's up to 3 years after they turn 18.

[Drawweight]

Won’t the contaminated blood issue fall under the umbrella of the enquiry that is still currently going on?

[Chrisgr31]

How do you sever an artery going down the throat?

It what are you going to achieve? It’s likely that most of those involved will have retired - that’s even if they can be identified. Chances of records still existing from 27 years ago are potentially remote.

You are just likely to open more wounds.

[carinatauk]

Not sure how they would have "severed" an artery going down the esophagus. Did they pierce the wall of the esophagus or were there other complications that made the artery walls unstable?

[shed driver]

Sounds like esophageal varices, think varicose veins in the gullet.

Medical records are not routinely retained for any great length of time after death, I think it's 7 years. Staff will be difficult if not impossible to locate and memories of a single event will not be reliable.

Sadly, it's not really going to get you any answers.

SD.

[Beggarall]

shed driver said:

Sounds like esophageal varices, think varicose veins in the gullet.

Medical records are not routinely retained for any great length of time after death, I think it's 7 years. Staff will be difficult if not impossible to locate and memories of a single event will not be reliable.

Sadly, it's not really going to get you any answers.

SD.

This sounds quite likely - in which case his condition would have been more complicated than just gall stones. How old were you at the time and what recollections do you have? What did the medical team say? What has happened for you to bring this up now? I doubt if you will get the answers now sadly.

[vaud]

DeanR32 said:

Pretty much every death has someone responsible in some form or another. It eats me up that my fathers death doesn’t.

This may not be what you want to hear, but after this period of it eating you up, I would consider an investment in private counselling first with a specialist in grief counselling, if you haven't already.

[vaud]

Also the records probably (stress probably) won't exist anymore:

https://www.bma.org.uk/advice-and-support/ethics/c...

[KungFuPanda]

As others have said, you’ve got a three year limitation period and you’re way outside of that. Your only hope would have been that new evidence has come along very recently but it doesn’t sound like this has happened.

[MBVitoria]

Sorry to hear this OP. I can't imagine how hard it must have been to go through this. Judging by the ages you mention, I'm guessing you were a youngster when this all happened.

On the face of it, you have a major issue in terms of the limitation point, although it's not always clear cut, especially if new evidence has come to light. The second obvious issue is the lack of record keeping, plus anyone who was involved will likely have long retired.

It might be worth asking for a free consultation with a clinical negligence lawyer and see if they have any suggestions. The Law Society has a tool to find clinical negligence specialists - https://solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk

[solo2]

I nearly died in childbirth 23 years ago, I needed emergency surgery after my section went wrong and they pierced my bladder. 15 Units of blood and 24 hours in recovery before being transferred to a ward. My bond with my new-born was damaged.

last year that newborn read my medical notes as she is a student midwife now and said I really should have taken it further afterwards, that there were a host of inaccurate and contradictory info in my notes but I did not see what it would achieve. I'm alive and so is my child but I understand how you feel OP. My condolences to you for the future you missed out on with your Dad.

[knk]

solo2 said:

I nearly died in childbirth 23 years ago, I needed emergency surgery after my section went wrong and they pierced my bladder. 15 Units of blood and 24 hours in recovery before being transferred to a ward. My bond with my new-born was damaged.

last year that newborn read my medical notes as she is a student midwife now and said I really should have taken it further afterwards, that there were a host of inaccurate and contradictory info in my notes but I did not see what it would achieve. I'm alive and so is my child but I understand how you feel OP. My condolences to you for the future you missed out on with your Dad.

Your daughter getting access to your notes and reading them would be considered gross misconduct and a dismissal offence with referral to the NMC likely to lead to sanction.

[vaud]

knk said:

Your daughter getting access to your notes and reading them would be considered gross misconduct and a dismissal offence with referral to the NMC likely to lead to sanction.

That's not quite what she said. The daughter could have been given access to a copy provided to the poster, not accessing systems in the NHS?

[knk]

vaud said:

knk said:

Your daughter getting access to your notes and reading them would be considered gross misconduct and a dismissal offence with referral to the NMC likely to lead to sanction.

That's not quite what she said. The daughter could have been given access to a copy provided to the poster, not accessing systems in the NHS?

Yes, quite right, and that would be fine.

[Riley Blue]

vaud said:

knk said:

Your daughter getting access to your notes and reading them would be considered gross misconduct and a dismissal offence with referral to the NMC likely to lead to sanction.

That's not quite what she said. The daughter could have been given access to a copy provided to the poster, not accessing systems in the NHS?

It's possible to nominate another person to have access to your medical record at my GP surgery, i.e. I can read my O/H's and she can read mine, including letters etc. from hospital consultants.

[solo2]

Riley Blue said:

vaud said:

knk said:

Your daughter getting access to your notes and reading them would be considered gross misconduct and a dismissal offence with referral to the NMC likely to lead to sanction.

That's not quite what she said. The daughter could have been given access to a copy provided to the poster, not accessing systems in the NHS?

It's possible to nominate another person to have access to your medical record at my GP surgery, i.e. I can read my O/H's and she can read mine, including letters etc. from hospital consultants.

I obtained my notes to give to my daughter to read as she is training to be a midwife and I knew my pregnancy with her was far from straightforward and something interesting for her to read and see to end She then picked up on all the errors and contradictory info within them that I was unaware of and wouldn't understand in layman's terms anyway. I didn't expect her comments and was quite shocked but that was 20 years ago now and she & I survived so that was all that mattered to me.