Was sacking enough?

Caporegime
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Read this story in the Telegraph today and it's left me a little perturbed.

The long and short of it is, this young woman was very ill and paramedics were called. They failed to ask her any questions about her medical history, failed to carry out tests on vital signs (pulse, oxygen, breathing). They told her she had a stomach bug and the best place for her was at home. They would not take her to the hospital.

6 hours later, she died.

What makes it worse is that they then proceeded to fabricate her clinical record to cover up their gross incompetence.

They have both been struck off at a disciplinary hearing.

Is it too strong to feel there should be criminal charges there as well?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukn...d-dying-woman--You-just-have-a-tummy-bug.html
 
I'd have thought the family of the women would be able to take legal proceedings out against the paramedics and/or hospital/area they worked for, for this utter failure of care.
 
When you phrase it like that, obviously further action will be taken, and probably will be if how you phrased it is indeed an accurate representation of what happened / what is believed to have happened.
 
If what the medics did (or didn't do) resulted in this death then is that not a criminal offence in itself?

I don't think medical negligence is an official crime in the UK, but surely fabricating the patients clinical record to cover your own back is.
 
Read this story in the Telegraph today and it's left me a little perturbed.

The long and short of it is, this young woman was very ill and paramedics were called. They failed to ask her any questions about her medical history, failed to carry out tests on vital signs (pulse, oxygen, breathing). They told her she had a stomach bug and the best place for her was at home. They would not take her to the hospital.

6 hours later, she died.

What makes it worse is that they then proceeded to fabricate her clinical record to cover up their gross incompetence.

They have both been struck off at a disciplinary hearing.

Is it too strong to feel there should be criminal charges there as well?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukn...d-dying-woman--You-just-have-a-tummy-bug.html

What's the test on oxygen and breathing ? I've heard of pulse and blood pressure but oxygen and breathing?
 
Reminds me a bit of how my friend died.

Long long story short, my friend fell down and hit is head from quite a hight. It was a saturday night (no alcohol involved).

His friends called an ambulance and he was taken to the local hospital which was a pretty good hospital, decent ER and etc, not some crappy small backwater place at least.

Due to it being a saturday night full of drunk idiots, they were very very busy. The doctor looked at him, assessed him and said there was nothing visibly wrong with him and after a while (Not a huge amount of time) of being at the hospital he was told he can go home.

by 3-4am his friend went to check on him, he was dead.

Bleeding on the brain, the pressure slowly kept building up and then yer was just a matter of time.


He shouldn't have been released from hospital with such an injury, should have had scans.
 
The hospital did nothing wrong. :confused:



So that's a valid reason for the family to just accept it? Because they might be feeling a bit guilty, and we wouldn't want to hurt their feelings any more? Really?

They were probably pushed by the hospital/ambulance service. I can't see the story on that site as I've reached my max this month :(
 
A far better and less sensationalist report:

A CORONER has delivered a narrative verdict at the inquest of a Neath dental nurse in which he criticised the ambulance crew who attended her home hours before her death.
Sarah Thomas, 30, who battled with the after-effects of a brain tumour which left her without two-thirds of her vision, died on May 5, 2007.

Coroner Philip Rogers said that after considering all the evidence heard over five days it had been a "very difficult case to decide". He said this was due to the differing accounts heard from Miss Thomas's parents Kenneth and Madeline, and the paramedics.
Mr Rogers said: "Both Mr and Mrs Thomas and the ambulance crew maintained their version of events despite extensive questions by myself and counsel from the interested persons."

Mr Rogers said he had found there had been failings.
He said: "My findings are that there were serious failings in the way in which the crew went about their assessment and recording her condition that night."
But given the crew's lack of knowledge and the rarity of Miss Thomas's condition, he said: "This failure cannot be labelled as gross failings."
In his detailed narrative verdict, which was around three A4 pages long, he said that Miss Thomas had suffered a complete failure of her pituitary gland, meaning she was required to take hydrocortisone daily.
He said that on the day before her death she developed symptoms of gastroenteritis and her GP prescribed her with antibiotics and an antiemetic (a drug to combat nausea).
He said later she called for an ambulance complaining of a stomach bug and could not control her breathing.

"Sarah was not taken to hospital and the crew left the house at 1.50am having had a discharge of treatment form signed by Sarah's mother at 1.30am," he said.
He said she was last known to be alive at 3.45am but was found dead by her father in the bathroom at 9am.
Mr Rogers said: "The paramedic crew carried out a primary survey but there were serious failings in that which they carried out."
These included, he said, an inappropriate method used to assess respiratory rate, no further recording of respiratory rate, no attempt to listen to Miss Thomas's chest with a stethoscope, no assessment of her abdomen, no attempt to repeat observations, the blood pressure is likely to have been inaccurate, and there was a failure to get details of the long-term medication Miss Thomas was taking.

Mr Rogers added that Sarah's parents had no knowledge of Addisonian crisis at that time and the condition did not seem part of paramedic training and the crew had no previous knowledge of the condition.
Mr Rogers said that due to the failure to carry out an appropriate assessment "it was not possible for Sarah to make an informed decision" on whether to go to hospital or not.
He continued: "By accepting Sarah's mother's signature the crew failed to ensure that Sarah fully understood the possible consequences of not going to hospital. If Sarah had been taken to hospital it was likely she would have received intravenous hydrocortisone and fluids and her death would not have occurred on May 5 in 2007."

Mr Rogers said he would record the medical cause of her death as 1a circulatory collapse as a result of gastroenteritis, with part two, panhypopituitarism and adrenal insufficiency.
A Welsh Ambulance Service spokesperson said: "The Trust will be giving full and urgent consideration to the coroner's narrative verdict to ensure that all opportunities are taken to continuously improve our service."

Source: http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/C...tory-18208331-detail/story.html#axzz2lCKlr9Fr


Sacking yes, criminal charges NO. They made mistakes and were incompetent, there was no malice or intent to hurt the patient.
 
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The blame lies with the idiot, Jeremy Hunt, in charge, large eldery population reliant on NHS for social services, incompetent NHS managers, not enough frontline staff and most frontline staff being paid a pittance.

If hospitals weren't overwhelmed with elderly, uneducated immigrants, morons wasting time and drunks this wouldn't have happened.
 
The blame lies with the idiot, Jeremy Hunt, in charge, large eldery population reliant on NHS for social services, incompetent NHS managers, not enough frontline staff and most frontline staff being paid a pittance.

If hospitals weren't overwhelmed with elderly, uneducated immigrants, morons wasting time and drunks this wouldn't have happened.

I can't see how this is the health secretary's fault, unless you are suggesting people that waste hospital staff time are charged for doing so?

Or that the social structure that did support these vulnerable people has been eroded and therefore have no where to turn?
 
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pitchfork;25342873. But the fabricating clinical evidence is just ridiculous.[/QUOTE said:
This is just it. We need more information on this part of it, as I think the criminal issue stands there more than with the care given.
 
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