A doctor accused of wrongly discharging a boy from hospital before he died from sepsis cannot be tracked down, health chiefs have admitted. Dylan Cope, nine, suffered a burst appendix which led to a sepsis infection spreading through his body - and a coroner later ruled that had he been kept in hospital to have his appendix removed, 'his death would have been avoided'.
But a mystery medic discharged him with an advice sheet for flu after failing to read the referral note from the doctor. An inquest ruled Dylan partly died from neglect and his parents have been trying to trace the doctor who assessed him.
Why? Shouldn't the police be doing this? Isn't it their job?
Yet almost two years following the schoolboy's death, parents Corinne and Laurence Cope say they have been told the health board are unable to identify the clinician in question. They appealed to the Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran, south Wales. to hand out anonymised portraits of staff so his father - who had accompanied Dylan to hospital - could identify him, but have been told this is not an option.
Why not? It's almost like they don't want to find him, isn't it?
Mrs Cope has now said: 'Losing Dylan is a life sentence of pain for us, and for all we know the person who was instrumental in reassuring Laurence is carrying on in his profession as usual.
'If they can't identify all staff involved, how can they ensure that this will not happen again
'We are concerned for future patient's safety. If they don't identify people, then there is no accountability. Accountability is a key part of learning.'
There's never any accountability.
Mr Cope said the doctor, who was in scrubs and a facemask, was in his 30s to 40s, slim to average build, tall and with a slight 'foreign' accent.
Probably of little help in a modern NHS hospital.
This is another nail in the coffin for trust in the medical profession and the NHS.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how those who are involved in these avoidable deaths can live with themselves.
It is an age thing, I know but -
ReplyDeleteI grew up in a small town with its own small hospital with a small number of long term staff. For uninfected air the windows were opened. Nobody died of post-operation fungal or other nasty infections. Appendectomies were routine. Never a problem. A Matron ruled the roost.
Now a patient has to be carted 50 or more miles to a sealed, overheated bug incubator where there seems to be no one in charge. Lots of different coloured uniforms which drift from ward to ward and to outside for a puff with no sepsis control.
No wonder people consider being a patient in a a mega hospital as a death sentence.
As everything in a hospital is done with the implied knowledge and permission of the CEO, Manager, or whoever, shouldn't that person be prosecuted? If everything goes well, that person gets a knighthood so, if something goes pear shaped, that person carries the can.
ReplyDeletePenseivat
Unfortunately that is not how it works in the upper echelons of many organisations now. The CEO gets all the perks and the minions are the ones likely to get a kicking but even then that is not guaranteed. The coverall is usually "lessons will be learnt" but we rarely see that either. Honour is all but dead.
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