More than 30 families have taken legal action against a hospital in north-west England for a catalogue of baby and maternal deaths and injuries.
They blame poor care and medical negligence at Furness General Hospital at Morecambe Bay in Cumbria.
Parents also allege that important reports were suppressed in the run-up to the local NHS trust achieving foundation trust status in March 2010.
The trust said there was "no denying" families were let down in the past.
The hospital is at the centre of the scandal which is now the subject of a number of investigations including a police inquiry.
Since June 2011, a team of 15 detectives have been investigating a number of deaths at the hospital.
Every time we were told Joshua was fine and that there was nothing to worry about. At no stage was a doctor ever called”
James Titcombe
Parents and NHS staff have been interviewed and the BBC understands that police are looking into the possibility of bringing corporate manslaughter charges against the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Foundation NHS Trust.
James Titcombe, a nuclear engineer living near Barrow-in-Furness, told the BBC how he watched his son Joshua die at just nine days old in November 2008.
Mr Titcombe and his wife, Hoa, are one of five sets of parents to have settled their claim with the trust.
The coroner heard that midwives and medical staff made 10 serious errors that contributed to Joshua's death including a failure to detect and monitor the baby's infection and a failure to provide care before and after birth.
"We asked repeatedly if Joshua should have antibiotics and we were told 'No, he didn't'," said Mr Titcombe.
"He was wheezing and he wasn't feeding properly and my wife called the emergency bell because he was grunting.
"And every time we were told Joshua was fine and that there was nothing to worry about. At no stage was a doctor ever called."
Mr Titcombe described how and his wife watched helplessly as Joshua died from sepsis.
To make matters worse, Joshua's progress chart went missing, never to re-emerge and the coroner later said there was a suspicion that it may have been deliberately destroyed.
Investigation
The government has announced an inquiry to be held in public and there are other investigations into two other NHS bodies in relation to Morecambe Bay.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) stands accused of hindering an investigation into parents' concerns, as well as allowing the trust to get foundation status despite allegations about the standards of the maternity services.
The Health Ombudsman is investigating allegations of poor supervision by the North West Strategic Health Authority.
One of the most serious allegations against the trust is that it suppressed the damning findings of an internal inquiry into maternity services led by nursing expert Dame Pauline Fielding. The report made wide-ranging criticisms.
There is no denying that the trust has let women and their families down in the past and there are things that should have been done differently”
John Cowdall Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust
The report described the team working as "dysfunctional in some parts of the maternity services" and that consultants were preoccupied with their own agendas possessing "little confidence in the clinical leadership" while the management had failed to "establish a common culture… within which good practice could flourish".
In February 2012, a separate report commissioned by the foundation trust's supervisory body, Monitor, also criticised managers.
In the report, the accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers said the trust lacked a "risk management culture", adding that some doctors who had voiced concerns over patient safety had felt ignored.
Dr John Ashton, currently director of public health for Cumbria, told the BBC that he had concerns about the management of the trust for some years.
"I was with a senior manager at Morecambe Bay when he was told about the death of neonatal baby some months after it had taken place," said Dr Ashton, who has recently been appointed as the next president of the Faculty of Public Health.
"It beggars belief that the trust kept the Fielding Report secret. If you've got weak clinical governance, that's a disaster waiting to happen.
"And I think it's quite clear that there's been weak clinical governance at Morecambe Bay for a long time and it wasn't being taken seriously at a board level."
Baby deaths
Of the 37 cases of litigation, 23 were started in the past two years. These 23 cases involve nine baby deaths and eight cases of cerebral palsy. Since 2002, the legal cases have involved the deaths of 14 babies and two mothers.
The CQC said it would publish the findings of an inquiry into its alleged failings by accountants Grant Thornton. A spokesman for the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust said he could not comment on individual cases due to the police inquiry.
John Cowdall, trust chairman, said: "There is no denying that the trust has let women and their families down in the past and there are things that should have been done differently.
"Although we can't change the past, the new trust board is determined that we can learn from it and we will ensure we continue to do so.
"Due to the ongoing police investigation into the deaths of babies and mothers following care received at Furness General Hospital, it would be inappropriate to comment on individual cases. We will continue to co-operate fully and openly with the police."
"The new trust board is resolute in its determination that this trust will never let anyone down again in the way it did in the past, and we will not accept second best for our patients."
This article is courtesy of BBC News.
When they signed up to risk life and limb for their country, they expected in return to receive a decent level of care if they were wounded.
But new figures have revealed troops returning injured from the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq are suing a specialist hospital for medical negligence.
Over the past three years, 13 soldiers have launched compensation claims against the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth hospital.
The site cares for heroes airlifted home from the frontline and has won a string of awards for its work.
But details released under the Freedom of Information Act show soldiers taking legal action after claiming to have received poor treatment.
And experts say there is a gap between the world-class care frontline soldiers receive on the battlefield and the aftercare they receive when they are repatriated.
Clinical negligence specialist Philippa Tuckman said: ‘I think as far as Birmingham is concerned, there is a gap between the emergency care and what comes next.
‘The acute care is usually very good. The battlefield and emergency treatment is an example to others which has been picked up around the world.
‘What they are not so good at is the general practice and the day to day less dramatic care, which is just as important.
‘Often you have newly qualified military GPs who are not experienced at dealing with the full range of cases they are presented with, unlike an experienced GP.
‘I have clients who say to me, “I assumed as a serviceman I would get the best care possible” and they are surprised when they don’t.’
University Hospital of Birmingham NHS Trust, which runs the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, refused to comment on matters involving military patients.
As well as physical injuries that have been misdiagnosed or mistreated, Ms Tuckman believes the devastating impact of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is still being overlooked, with sufferers being sent back to the frontline.
‘The biggest area relating to active service is psychiatric harm,’ she said. ‘Part of the deal for servicemen is going to warzones like Afghanistan, seeing horrors and having terrible experiences.
‘In some ways PTSD is to be expected, but there are regulations which are supposed to look after you and make sure you aren’t sent back while you are still vulnerable. We’ve got a number of cases where that simply hasn’t happened.
‘It can lead to depression and drinking. It really can snowball and become very serious if people are subjected to tour after tour of duty when suffering psychiatric problems.
‘A better system is needed for dealing with the problem, particularly for helping those with PTSD who are medically discharged.’
The Ministry of Defence refused to go into any detail on any of the medical negligence claims.
But a spokesman pointed out that a fund which could total hundreds of thousands of pounds over the lifetime of a serviceman was available for anyone injured on duty.
In 2008 wounded ex-serviceman Scott Garthley, from Northampton, fought a £2.8million compensation battle with the MoD claiming he had been the victim of negligent treatment.
He claimed he had to pay more than £60,000 in private hospital bills just to ensure he received the vital care not offered to him by the MoD.
Mr Garthley was also ordered to take off his uniform at Selly Oak hospital - then home of the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine - in case it offended ethnic minority patients, sparking national outrage.
This article is courtesy of the Daily Mail.
IU Health is one of a small percentage of hospital systems across the country that have invested in technology that would help prevent surgical sponges from being lost in patients’ bodies.
Surgical sponges left inside patients can create a potentially dangerous and deadly result. Still, the mistakes have been made in plenty of Indiana hospitals, some who have not made more recent investments in preventative technologies.
“They do the right thing most of the time,” said Lynn Bridgewater, Director of Operations and Perioperative Services at IU Health Methodist Hospital.
Bridgewater said her employees make mistakes, but they are leaving little room for errors involving surgical sponges in recent years.
IU Health spent more than $250,000 at three hospitals on radio frequency tracking devices that detect sensors implanted in surgical sponges. An additional $8 investment is also required during every surgery.
“Six years ago, we had 13 incidents of retained sponges, and one was too many,” said Bridgewater, who claims they also count instruments and other tools, a long-time practice.
A sponge left inside a body can cause a serious infection that may not be discovered right away.
“It’s a clear breach, a very clear act of negligence,” said Caroline Gilchrist, a medical malpractice attorney with Baker and Gilchrist in Avon.
She has had two sponge cases in recent years. She could not specifically talk to either case, claiming the cases were settled outside of court and confidentiality agreements were signed.
These incidents got real attention in Indiana when an executive order was signed requiring all hospitals and surgery centers to report if any foreign object is left inside a body.
There has been a slight decline in the amount of cases overall statewide, and some experts attribute the improvement to fewer sponge-related incidents.
“Everybody makes mistakes. The question is are you going to stand up and take responsibility for that,” said Gilcrhist.
“Hospitals are well aware that they need to report these things, but it does have a definition that must be met before its reportable, and there are some exclusions,” said Betsy Lee with the Indiana Hospital Association.
She claims not every hospital needs to make the expensive technology investment. There are other options.
An Indiana hospital can be responsible for up to $250,000 in damages if a mistake is made., though.
“It’s not a lot. In fact, that small investment is what helps me sleep at night,” said Bridgewater of the hospitals investment in the special sponges.
She added that they have had no incidents of sponges being left inside patients in five and a half years. That is when the hospital went through with the changes.
This article is courtesy of Fox 59.
A 93-year-old woman died after she fell when left at the wrong house by an ambulance crew, an inquest has heard.
The crew realised their mistake when they arrived at Mary Purnell's correct address, but dropped off more patients before returning to find her.
When they arrived at the house in Dinas Powys, south Wales, Mrs Purnell, who had dementia, was found with a broken leg. She died five weeks later.
A narrative verdict was returned at Cardiff coroner's court.
A narrative verdict is used when a chain of events has led to a person's death.
After the verdict, Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust said it wished to express its condolences to Mrs Purnell's family.
In a statement, the trust added: "The trust has reviewed its procedures following the incident and has listened carefully to the conclusions of the inquest and the coroner's comments."
A spokeswoman for the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust said: "Following this tragic incident, Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust has conducted an internal investigation, co-operated fully with all other agencies and reviewed and continues to review its policies and procedures."
The court heard that on 20 August, 2003, Mrs Purnell had been to a day unit in Barry.
She was collected at the end of the day by an ambulance crew who had around five or six other patients to take home.
Ambulance man Roy Jeffries told the hearing that he and driver David MacAdam were given a list of names and addresses, but the list contained details of people due to travel on one of two ambulances.
Empty house
They were not told which patients would be on their vehicle.
When the ambulance arrived at the house in Dinas Powys they "assumed" that Mrs Purnell lived there, the court heard.
In fact the woman who lived there had earlier been collected from the day centre by her son.
The ambulance staff found a door key under a flower pot, took Mrs Purnell into the empty house, placed her in a chair and left.
Asked why Mrs Purnell had been picked out, Mr MacAdam said: "I honestly can't answer that question."
After leaving the pensioner in Dinas Powys, the ambulance crew drove to the home she shared with her daughter, Christine Jones, in nearby Penarth.
"Mrs Purnell's daughter came out and met us and we didn't know who was to be dropped off," said Mr MacAdam.
'Redress mistake'
"We knew it was a Mrs Purnell but we didn't know who Mrs Purnell was, so I asked her to identify her mother.
"She could not. Then I realised we had made an awful mistake.
"We said we would go back to Dinas Powys and try to redress the mistake."
Mr MacAdam said he decided to drop off the rest of his patients before going back to collect Mrs Purnell because at least one person on board needed to use the toilet.
When the ambulance crew returned to the house where they had left Mrs Purnell in Dinas Powys, they found her lying on a garden terrace, crying in pain.
The widow, who had dementia and chronic lymphatic leukaemia and could not be left alone, had suffered a broken leg in the fall. She died in hospital on 29 September.
'Left unsupervised'
Cardiff and Vale coroner Dr Lawrence Addicott said: "The pathologist said she died from bronchial pneumonia due to dementia, chronic lymphatic leukaemia and the fracture.
"He was unable to say that one of those three conditions was directly related to her death more than the other.
"The fractured femur had been a contributory factor since she had become immobile since the operation."
Delivering a narrative verdict, Dr Addicott added: "Mrs Purnell, who suffered from chronic lymphatic leukaemia and dementia, died following a fracture of the femur that she sustained when she fell in the garden of a premises to which she had been returned from a day centre.
"She had been returned to the incorrect address, of which she was not familiar, and left unsupervised."
Solicitor Peter Maynard, acting for Mrs Purnell's family, said they were considering whether to take further action and hoped that steps had been taken to prevent such an incident ever happening again.
This article is courtesy of BBC News.
Hospital chiefs face calls for an inquiry after claims they ignored repeated warnings about the competence of a paediatric surgeon found guilty of misconduct.
Dr Pierina Kapur, 43, faces being struck-off this week after a General Medical Council panel heard how she removed 90 per cent of a seven-week-old baby girl's bladder – mistaking it for a hernia during an operation at Manchester Children's Hospital in 2008. The panel concluded that her conduct was so poor it went "beyond mere negligence" and rejected claims she was a competent and safe surgeon.
Documents seen by The Independent on Sunday show that several of Dr Kapur's colleagues alerted senior hospital staff at Alder Hey, in Liverpool, and Manchester children's hospitals about her abilities to operate safely as early as 2005. This included the case of Logan Cockcroft, six, who nearly died after a routine stomach operation was botched. Dr Kapur went on to qualify as a consultant in 2006.
The claims will add to mounting concerns that patient safety is being dismissed or ignored by health officials. Next week, Parliament will debate a Private Member's Bill to strengthen protection for NHS whistleblowers. The NHS Public Interest Disclosure Support Bill calls for the introduction of independent support officers to whom whistleblowers can speak anonymously without fear of reprisals or being ignored.
Last year MPs heard that staff concerns at Mid Staffs Hospital, where up to 1,200 patients died because of poor care, were ignored by hospital managers.
"We need to find out why nothing was done about these complaints so we can stop concerns about patient safety being sat on," said Dr Richard Taylor, an independent MP who introduced the bill.
Logan Cockcroft, from Burnley, almost died when Dr Kapur failed to notice she had skewered his colon while inserting a feeding tube into his stomach. The life-threatening mistake was discovered 10 months later by a surgeon at Alder Hey after Logan's weight dropped to 12lbs and his mother, Jill, insisted on a second opinion. She has referred his case to the GMC.
Alder Hey hospital, where Dr Kapur was a trainee, says it has "no record" of any complaints against her. Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was unable to confirm any prior complaints about Dr Kapur.
Dr Mark Porter, the chairman of the British Medical Association's consultants committee, said: "A situation in which people feel scared to speak out, or do not have confidence their concerns will be taken seriously, is unacceptable, and potentially dangerous."
This article is courtesy The Independent.
The mother of a brain-damaged baby has accused a hospital of causing her son's disability due to a clinical failure.
Emma Morgan's son Brandon, born at Queen's Hospital in Romford, was left severely disabled after his brain was starved of oxygen at birth.
Maternity services at the hospital had previously been under scrutiny by the health regulator - but earlier this year it said standards were being met.
The hospital insists it followed medical protocol.
Emma Morgan said Queen's Hospital knew she was a high risk mum, in danger of having a placenta abruption.
"If they had done a scan and he was born at that time when I first went in he wouldn't probably have all these problems”
Emma Morgan
But despite that they sent her home after she came in complaining of abdominal pains, she said.
Within hours Brandon had become separated from his mother's placenta - starving his brain of oxygen.
'Glowing' report
An emergency caesarean section saved his life - but by then the prospects of a normal one had been ruined.
Emma Morgan is now taking legal action. She said: "He's been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, he had seizures at birth, he's got a cluster of cysts at the back of his brain.
"I think the pains were the start of the placenta abrupting and if they had done a scan and he was born at that time when I first went in he wouldn't probably have all these problems."
It is not the first time allegations of clinical failure have been made against Queen's Hospital's maternity unit.
In 2011 BBC London revealed medical negligence that led to the death of Serena Ali and her unborn daughter.
By that July the hospital was under emergency measures and the trust employed an additional 60 midwives.
A year on, and a report by the regulator, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), said care was improving.
It was in the same month Brandon was born severely brain damaged.
And it has now emerged five other mothers are considering suing the hospital for negligence over its clinical decision-making.
The hospital described its recent CQC report as "glowing", claiming it provides "high quality care".
It released a statement which said: "We held a post-birth review which confirmed that the care and treatment met all accepted medical practices."
This article is courtesy of BBC News.
An NHS surgeon facing legal action from 60 female patients was allowed to work for two decades even though hospital authorities knew he was responsible for a string of blunders, it can be disclosed.
Rob Jones was even allowed to deliver Samantha and David Cameron’s fourth child, Florence, by caesarean section in August 2010 despite the fact that the hospital’s own investigations had identified his “significant surgical incompetence”.
The obstetrician and gynaecologist has been blamed for a series of catastrophic errors, including the death of a baby in January 2010, seven months before Mrs Cameron gave birth at the Royal Cornwall Hospital. By then midwives had tried to stop him working alone because of their fears.
In another case the hospital paid out £9million to a baby born brain damaged in 1993, after Mr Jones failed to spot warning signs in the mother’s medical condition. For years, colleagues warned that his patients were being put at risk, but an internal review decided it would be a “mammoth task” to compare his record with that of other surgeons.
On Saturday night Sir Bruce Keogh, medical director of the NHS, said the scandal highlighted the need for hospitals to hold doctors to professional standards, audit their performance, and publish the results. Now, lawyers acting for 60 women are preparing a multi-million-pound action against the hospital trust that employed Mr Jones from 1992 until last year.
The cases include:
- A mother whose baby died of severe brain damage two days after birth
- A woman who underwent a botched hysterectomy that left her in agony and enduring four further operations to repair the mistakes
- A grandmother left in pain for a decade after routine surgery went wrong
Mr Jones, 64, was finally suspended in May 2012 after an investigation found his deficiencies were so broad and had gone on for so long that it would be unrealistic to consider retraining him.
He then retired and removed himself from the medical register — meaning he cannot face disciplinary procedures by the General Medical Council. However there were previously seven official reviews into Mr Jones’s professional competence — the first in 1997, when the hospital realised they faced more claims against him than any other obstetric consultant.
The hospital’s own reports show that on 23 different occasions concerns had been raised about his performance — but the problems were never properly examined. Sir Bruce said: “If a doctor doesn’t know what the hell he is doing, how can anyone help them or the patients they are treating?
“There is no excuse for any doctor or hospital not to examine performance properly.”
The final investigation followed an anonymous letter which was sent to Mr Cameron at Downing Street in June 2011 and passed on to the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust. That culminated in the publication last week of a series of damning reports into Mr Jones and the obstetrics and gynaecology services at the hospital.
Carole Gill, a college English lecturer whose daughter Maggie died in January 2010, is planning legal action after Mr Jones and other staff failed to spot acute pancreatitis during her pregnancy. Maggie died two days after being born with severe brain damage.
Miss Gill, 35, said: “My illness should have been picked up sooner. If it had been, things might have turned out very differently.”
The mother of a baby born with brain damage in 1993 has now received a £9million compensation payment. The woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said that had the signs of pre-eclampsia been spotted by Mr Jones, her son — in all likelihood — would have been born without any problems.
Mike Bird, a clinical negligence solicitor at the law firm Foot Anstey who represents 45 of the women threatening legal action, said yesterday that serious failings had been identified at the hospital in an official report published last week by Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust. “Many of the women I act for have already contacted me to say how angry and upset they feel about the catalogue of missed opportunities and excuses they have seen in the report,” he said.
Although the concerns about Mr Jones were first officially raised in 1997 when he was made clinical director, and include obstetric cases, the trust’s inquiry only examined gynaecological cases between 2010 and 2012.
It found that 52 patients suffered complications, and an additional 57 women have been recalled for further examination. Lawyers and victims complain the review was far too limited and did not go back far enough.
The first investigation into Mr Jones was in 1997, when it was found he was recording a higher number of legal claims than his colleagues in obstetrics. Another investigation was held a year later. In 2001, a nurse highlighted 15 cases involving Mr Jones but no full investigation was undertaken after it was declared a “mammoth task” to go through records.
In 2007 there was another investigation, then in 2008, a review of treatment of 45 of Mr Jones’s patients found “significant surgical incompetence”. But the hospital’s then medical director was persuaded by Mr Jones not to take any further action. The report describes Mr Jones as “charming and disarming” in his efforts to save his career.
In January 2010, after Miss Gill’s baby died, he was suspended temporarily from practising obstetrics. He was allowed to return to such work in February 2010 although in July 2010, according to the report, there was still a “high level of concern”. A month later he delivered the Camerons’ baby.
The anonymous letter sent to Downing Street and passed on to the hospital was followed by two further reviews. The final report by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in April 2012 concluded he should not return to work.
Martin Watts, chairman of the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust, said: “On behalf of the trust I wish to unreservedly apologise to these women and their families for the pain, distress and anxiety caused by the practice of former obstetric and gynaecology consultant Mr Rob Jones.”
He said the review “confirms that concerns identified about some of Mr Jones’s practice should have been addressed with more vigour and urgency”.
A statement issued by the Medical Defence Union, on behalf of Mr Jones, said: “Mr Jones was pleased to note that of the 2,400 women whose care was reviewed, in nearly 95 per cent of cases there was no cause for concern. He is of course sorry for any patient who suffered a complication of surgery and to any patient who has had the stress of their care being reviewed.”
The union said Mr Jones had cooperated “fully” with inquiries, and was only made aware of two of the investigations — one by the trust, the other by the Royal College — and added: “He was unaware of concerns apparently expressed about his practice to Trust management at other times. Mr Jones has always been prepared to talk openly and constructively with the Trust about concerns relating to his practice.”
This article is courtesy of The Telegraph.
