Apology for fatal ambulance error

An ambulance service has apologised to the family of a Nottingham man who was refused transport to hospital shortly before dying from a heart attack.

Brenda Brewster called the emergency services when her husband Charles, 72, lay on the kitchen floor of their home in Bulwell after collapsing.

But an East Midlands Ambulance Service (Emas) operator told her the call did not warrant a "high priority" response.

Mr Brewster died last November while waiting for paramedics to arrive.

Emas has admitted the call should have been given a higher priority.

The couple's daughter, Sarah Colton, said her father had had a history of health problems.

"He had Parkinson's disease, he'd been in remission from cancer, he had heart disease, thyroid problems...he used to fall regularly.

"When the time was there when we needed an ambulance, we couldn't get one.

"He was a wonderful man, he'd do anything to help anybody...he was such a gentle man."

In a statement, Emas said: "It was classified as a category C call and passed to a control nurse.

"We feel that on the basis of the information we received the initial call should have been upgraded in the first instance as a category B call - serious."

The family has made an official complaint to the ambulance service.


This article is courtesy BBC News.

£4 million compensation for cerebral palsy teenager

A teenager who has severe cerebral palsy is set to receive a £4 million compensation package.

The family of the 18-year-old, who cannot be identified, brought High Court proceedings over the management of her birth at Rochford Hospital, Essex, in September 1992.
 
Their counsel, Margaret Bowron QC, told Mr Justice Kenneth Parker in London that the teenager was left with "terribly serious disabilities".
 
She is wheelchair bound, lacks meaningful speech, has learning difficulties and will need full-time care for life.
 
Ms Bowron said that she wanted to put on record the "extraordinary efforts" of the teenager's mother who had given up her life to bringing up her daughter, with the support of the girl's elder brother.
 
"She is now welcoming assistance and has found a house to move into, so we are hoping that within a few months they will have a new home, a care package in place and the future will be as rosy as it can be in these difficult circumstances."
 
Counsel said that Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust had behaved "impeccably" and approached the litigation, which was launched last year, with "speed, good sense and great sensitivity".
 
The judge approved the "fair and reasonable" agreed settlement which involves a lump sum of £1.6 million and annual payments starting at £140,000 and rising to £175,000 as the teenager grows older.

This article is courtesy of The Independent.

'It was a cover-up': Coroner launches stinging attack on 11 midwives who failed to spot baby's infection and then 'conspired to hide negligence'

Midwives face a police inquiry after a nine-day-old boy died a needless and ‘horrible’ death.

Joshua Titcombe was killed by an infection which could have been cured with antibiotics. But hospital staff ignored parents’ concerns, telling his father: ‘He’s fine, it’s your wife you need to worry about.’

At an inquest into the tragedy, coroner Ian Smith considered evidence from 11 midwives working at Furness General Hospital in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria.
And in a dramatic conclusion to the hearing he accused them of a cover-up and collaborating over their failure to recognise that Joshua had the infection.

‘Incriminating’ medical notes may have been deliberately destroyed to protect blundering staff and there was a ‘very worrying mark of suspicion’ hanging over why an observation chart went missing, he told the hearing.

Recording a verdict of natural causes, Mr Smith listed ten failings by staff in what he described as an ‘appalling’ case. Yesterday, Cumbria Police revealed a team of detectives was in the early stages of an investigation into the death.

Joshua, who suffered a lung infection and bled to death, would have had a 90 per cent chance of survival if given antibiotics immediately after his birth, the inquest heard.

The baby picked up the infection his mother was suffering from when she gave birth and there were ‘a number of missed opportunities’ to save him.

No doctor saw Joshua until he fell unconscious.

His mother, Hoa Titcombe, had been feeling unwell before and after giving birth at the hospital in October 2008, and was given antibiotics.

Mrs Titcombe, 35, and her engineer husband James, 33, asked staff if the newborn, who weighed just under 7lb, needed antibiotics, but no one took their fears seriously.

She broke down in tears as she recalled how her baby, then a day old, had been cleared to go home but was taken seriously ill minutes before they were due to leave.

'Joshua collapsed,’ she said. ‘He was blue and there were lots of bubbles coming from his mouth. I ran to the corridor and shouted for help. They came and said he was struggling to breathe. I was crying and very worried.’

Tony Halsall, chief executive of the Morecambe trust, said: ‘We know that our apologies cannot lessen the pain and suffering of Joshua’s parents. We have taken all the steps we can to minimise the risk of this happening again.’

Yesterday, a police spokesman said three officers monitored evidence at the inquest, which will ‘form part of the investigation’.

The Titcombes – who have a six-year-old daughter, Emily – have had another girl since the tragedy. Jessica is 20 months.

This article is courtesy of the Daily Mail.