16-11-2011

This is a story that is real and did happen over a period of 15 years, and of which the ending is not yet complete for the people who had to watch the enormous cruelty done to another Human.

It started 15 years ago around Christmas time, a 55 year old woman working woman was overloaded with work so much that even with all the help she could get not was able to run them all and to do the Christmas shopping at the same time.

It was a woman who stood at the beginning of a venture that would have brought her into retirement comfort.

However, there was a complication, the first mistake by a doctor, being that she had for some time pain in her left ear of which her doctor said it was just tinnitus, nothing else. However another medical specialist did warned her that this was more than tinnitus and that he has the suspicion that it was a middle ear infection. At the end she did give in, I will make time she said just after Christmas and see the doctor and demand to see an ENT doctor.

It was too late, on Christmas day eve, she said she was feeling not well; she took some painkillers and went to sleep. Around midnight her husband discovered that she was not moving and was breathing strange, he could not wake her and for that reason called the emergency doctor on duty.

And here was second mistake by a doctor, he did not go out but said that she was probably in a very deep sleep due to the Flu what was going around. He dismissed any suggestion that it was something else, "as he was the doctor". He called back at 0245 hour and said that he had spoken with her doctor and that he had said that it either was a urine infection or a throat infection. This was the third mistake as her doctor was on holiday in Ireland in that time and as it turned out the doctor who told the emergency doctor that he was her doctor was actual lying. It was also the doctor who had subscribed her Temazepine in the past for years in a row, against medical instruction.

It was not possible to get the medicines in her as she was star and stiff, her head back wards and made a gurgling sound. Her husband called the emergency doctor again and explained that he could not get the medicines in and that she was complete stiff. This was the fourth mistake, he refused to come out as it was cold and freezing and he had enough to do.

At 0800 hours the husband managed to reach his own doctor, this one listed and then said the Ambulance will be there within 10 minutes, get her something warm.

De ambulance did come indeed 10 minutes later, then the ambulance staff managed her on the way down from the top floor flat to drop her out of the ambulance chair, her teeth through her lips and bleeding. It took the ambulance crew nearly an hour to get her into the ambulance, but did make it to the hospital in less then 10 minutes. And here we have mistake number 5.

The Accident and Emergency department of the Hospital said as the emergency doctor that it was just flu. Then two hours later they told them (the family) that it was meningitis and that it was dangerous and could spread easily. That doctor was then told that it could be very well meningitis as that was advised to the emergency doctor, but that it came because of a perforated middle ear infection.

They did not believe it, till it was almost night and a specialist consultant said that they had looked at the scans and that it was now clear that that the middle ear infection was the fault. However he said, because of the 24 hours time between the outbreak and the right treatment the brain damage was almost complete and the family must accept that she would not make it.

From that point in the intensive care unit they did all they could do to help her and the result was that after 3 weeks she was removed to a High dependence unit. This unit was in fact a bit of a joke where it concerned the dependency as the nursing staff simple said they did not have time and that this was the fault of the government for not paying enough.

Result was that they missed that she nearly swallowed and then bit through her tongue. It took ENT two days before they had time to stop the bleeding and put a clamp in it, the tongue was now swollen at such a way that it filled the whole mouth and made breathing difficult. As it turned out the nursed although they knew that she was bleeding and had bitten through her tongue they had only informed ENT the second day.

After three months of coma the turbulence of the many mistakes such as pulling out the tracky in her throat, and putting it back again dirty as it was and/or putting it the wrong way, so that nurses superiors found it necessary to arrange a emergency X-ray, to correct the situation. And led to a letter of apology of the CEO of the Hospital and the promise to educate the nurses better.

Remember this was a patient that could not use her extremities, talk or see proper as such see was without the knowledge of the consultant and the family placed in a single room with no staff in attendance. Remember also that she was a high dependency patient and she was left alone. The staff nurse explained that they had left the bell next to her so that she could ring when she needed something, a patient that could not use her arms or hands, how was she supposed to do this.

She was then placed on another dependency ward and it was here that progress started. She was transferred to a revalidation centre to get her movements back again. Here the family noticed that she had bruises on her thigh’s and face which was explained as that the patient, who was still not able to use arms or hands, but was now able to sit, was aggressive. This from a woman who never in her life was aggressive and who could not use her extremities. Then it was noted that the same nurse also altered certain statements in report book and was sacked.

When the arms started to get moving she was referred to a Neuro-physio, who managed to drop her in the next two weeks twice because talking about the holiday was more important then watching a patient. The woman had now a complete fear for hospitals and was really frightened to be there, sometimes when the family arrived they could hear her screaming outside the building, that was explained as," they have to learn discipline the hard way if we want to go somewhere and they will". One day her daughter and husband found her blindfolded in a dark room with the TV loud on although there was a notice on the wall that the patient had a fear for dark and could not accept loud noises as that could trigger fits.

Again the responsible nurse was sacked, but was found later to be working at another hospital.
The woman started now already to walk between bars and the hands could get the blocks into the right holes most of the time. Progress was there! She was allowed to go home at night to be returned for exercise and other activities to bring her back to normal or near normal life.

One day there was a lot of noise from loud music from outside and the woman, who still had the hearing problem regarding loud noises, went into a fit, the husband brought her fast to the hospital and there she was put in a cubicle. Then what looked like a real doctor, came along and said well she had a stroke just let her rest and then we see what will happen. They looked in astonishing at him, it is a clear cut fit the husband said, all she need is emergency medication and she will be all right again. Then he said when they did not wanted to listen,"I take her home, my responsibility" Then he was persuaded to leave her, while he watched how they put several injection into her what made her mall-react resulting into a coma.

Then another team came and put her in another cubicle and attempted to get an IV line into here, they could not do it. The husband then called the original consultant from ICU, explained what was going on, and minutes later that consultant was in A&E, slung out the team working on her and had a line in, in seconds. From there it was strait forwards and three days later she could go home.

However, in the revalidation centre they had other news, there tests showed that the woman because of the way she was threaded in Hospital she had lost the ability for progress and was advised to take her home permanently but they should not expected more then one maximum two years before it would end. That was the end of the sixth mistake. The doctor in the hospital who said that we should be quit turned out to be a junior who was in fact studying for skin deceases and did not have a clue about Neuro problems.

For the woman and the Husband a life without any normal action was now the daily routine. A small fortune was forked out on equipment and other tools to make her life as good as possible. She was stimulated by five times a year holidays, in which she could not do much but still enjoyed herself, regardless.

The husband, the daughter and the local doctor managed to make her life as comfortable as possible, till she had a stroke, said goodbye to her husband, the daughters and the grandchildren and then passed away with a gimp of a smile on her face.

A waste of a life, a life that still could be going on if the Medical profession was more professional, less arrogant, and certainly more knowledgeable. In that case she would be all probability still walking around instead of being a loss for friend and family.

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Till the legal docs are prepared this article is placed without names or places other then that it was in the UK-London.
After the preparation the article would be added with the names of the Hospitals and the doctors and nurses involved.