I have been forcing myself to read and re-read the report we asked the A&e department for after my husband lost his life there on Christmas Eve. What I have discovered is that in the 6 hours he was with them he was not given any medication whatsoever even though he went in with a suspected heart attack, he was not offered an angiogram, nothing. NHS Guidelines run through a number of steps that should be taken with patients who are suspected of having a heart attack. The hospital is a small local one but there is a much bigger University Hospital in Coventry just up the road that have a specialist heart unit. I’m convinced if he had been taken there he would still be alive today, the pain of loss is bad enough the agony of knowing that maybe if the right steps had been taken by the ‘professionals’ is almost too much to bear. I have been back in touch with the PALS team and asked for further clarification on the questions I have already asked. I’ve also asked for a report from the ambulance service as on the night they chatted away to me about my Christmas decorations, told me what their mum’s Christmas decos were like and even let my husband walk upstairs.
Sorry for your loss and circumstances surrounding it
If you have all the medical documentation, I would take it for an independent medical opinion (cardiologist) on how the situation was handled.
You will need the full detailed medical and incident reports from the evening - I’m not sure if you have everything or just a summary report.
It won’t bring him back, but if you feel the vindication will allow you to manoeuvre through the grieving process and facilitate justice, then you do what you need to do to get through it.
Juniper19.we got scunthorpe hospital to admit to miscommunication in my gorgeous beautiful late wife sues case which was the fact that they knew about my wifes lung cancer in 2021 and the pancreatic cancer in may 2022 and didn’t tell us anything until November and December 2022.so i can sympathise with you on this
@Martyn2 incredible, that must have been awful for you both. I am determined to get to the bottom of it for his sake, I know we all feel this but I really feel that it was not his time to go, I think the hospital did nothing for him and he should have pulled through. Apparently you’re more likely to die in hospital at Christmas which makes my blood boil!
Juniper19 .yes it was and still more to answer to .sues medical from the doctors show a ct scan but according to scunthorpe hospital say that she never had one.also requested sues hospital records and they haven’t responded to me for them
Hi Juniper,
So sorry that this has happened. I was surprised to hear that you have a report. I won’t be able to access my dad’s notes (not diagnosed with ischemic heart disease in primary care despite multiple appointments) until we have the grant of probate (4-5 months away).
I suppose PALS helped, did they? It sounds like you’re doing well, on your path to justice. Good luck 
.
@Burgled yes I requested information about what happened on the night through PALS and they were pretty quick, I don’t expect the answer to my further questions to come through as quickly though. West Midlands Ambulance haven’t got back to us yet though, despite telling us for weeks that the report was ready. Yours sounds like a desperately sad story too - all those appointments and nothing picked up it;s just not good enough is it? I know they’re under pressure etc but they’re all we have got when it comes to health care. Good luck to you too.
@Martyn2 you probably already know this but this is something PALS can help with. How awful about the scan - I mean, that’s pretty fundamental isn’t it?
@Juniper19 I also put a complaint against the east Anglian ambulance service. My husband died suddenly and unexpectedly a week before Christmas at the age of 53. I was at work when my 22 year old son rang me to say his dad my husband had collapsed. I had missed the call by 30 mins, time I got home he was gone. I did CPR as no ambulance had arrived yet. It turns out that my son had rang 999 and no pick up for 4 minutes, my husband was in pain with his back and pale. 25 mins later my husband was unresponsive. my son spoke to them again as still no ambulance, the caller didn’t stay on the phone to my son or instruct to do CPR. The reason why… because he sounded calm!!! Feel so let down by them.
@Hazel.1966 that sounds awful it must have been horrific for you and your son. The thought that the actions of others make a difference between living and dying is so awful x
@Juniper19 yes it was terrific having to do CPR on my husband and for my son to see his dad die and being helpless and still feeling that we couldn’t have saved him. The PM came back to say that my husband had died of a massive rear pulmonary embolism and mets kidney cancer which none of us knew about including my poor husband. He was working the day before. I know he most likely to have died but we would have been saved the trauma that we suffered if the paramedics were there earlier. I am so sorry for your lost and the way it happened also. Big hugs xx
Juniper19 .pals have been good. But still asking for sues hospital notes and as yet no response from pals
@Hazel.1966 , it just breaks my heart to read this. I just wanted to mention that I too had to do CPR on my husband, so I can relate a little bit. I could tell he was already gone when I found him, but had to do CPR between the time of dialling 999 and the time the paramedics arrived. Luckily they were quick to the scene and took over. I just wanted to tell you how truly sorry I am to read this experience of yours, and that I can empathise with that horrible thing of having to do CPR on your own soulmate when you know that they are most likely already gone. It is a horrendous nightmare. I’m sending you love and strength, and the biggest possible hugs. xxx
Hi I feel that you’re in a very similar position to me, I had a report that was basically dishonest and obstructive, this took almost a year to arrive. I contested lots of the issues, the hospital had to be dragged screaming to answer the most basic of questions. Then we had huge delays "Drs are very busy people ",I was told, I said it was a shame that they hadn’t been busy looking after my Husband. Even Pals were disgusted with how we were treated, eventually the Ombudsman made a special exception to take the case. I think there is a year deadline to make a complaint, the hospital failed to make any reasonable effort to explain what had happened. I was offered a face to face meeting to try and get answers, this was cancelled 3 times ,twice within hours of the meeting time, to say this was stressful was a huge understatement. Now almost 4 years later , I am finally getting some sort of report, they wouldn’t even answer to the ombudsmen, until they were forced to. I just cannot imagine i am ever going to get an honest response. My Husband knew he had been failed, he asked me to chase this if anything happened to him. I feel I have really let him down.
Hiya all. I am so so sorry for what you have been/ are going through. I did a pitiful attempt at CPR on Alan but the paramedics were on the scene very quickly and did manage to get his heart beating. It was when we arrived at hospital that the sh*tshow began. We were left standing in the middle of an unfinished A&E department ‘we don’t have any rooms’ and, while the harassed doctor told me it was just a matter of time before Alan would die we were surrounded by jolly workmen in high vis jackets hammering and drilling away. We had to practically beg for Alan to be taken somewhere quieter. Eventually a palliative care nurse showed up and, for the short time she was with us, she was lovely. Alan was taken to a side room on a ward where the agency nurses were clearly struggling to care for the sick. We had to beg for a syringe driver (he was clearly suffering) and in the 12 hours we were there nobody voluntarily came near us to see if we were OK (we weren’t) or to help Alan. When he eventually passed, as we were leaving the ward, they were literally snapping on the rubber gloves and laughing as they went in. We didn’t experience negligence and Alan couldn’t have been saved but we were shown a shocking lack of respect or care. I am still waiting for PALS to address my concerns. They never call back. The only person who has been of help was the palliative care nurse who I know has also raised it. Sorry, this has become a bit of a rant! Take care all x
I am so sorry to hear your story my Husband passed away in a cubicle with people laughing and joking outside, when I describe it I say it was like a circus. Sadly there was no dignity or respect, and unfortunately that will be one of my lasting memories of him.
I am hoping that when I get their reply, they will have improved their shambolic services and whoever finds themselves in that position gets better treatment.
They have admitted poor care I just need to know why it happened, I am disgusted that not only have they have dragged out this case, but have done everything they can not to give me answers
My Husband wasn’t as clever as these doctors , but he was honest and decent something that has been distinctly missing from his entire care.
@Arvia what a terrible, terrible experience for you and that must have added greatly to the trauma of losing your husband, and for those sights and sounds to be the backdrop to his last hours is beyond sad. I think that experience could easily lead to you suffering PTSD as well as grief. How long have you be waiting for PALS to get back to you?
I had 8 months of counselling and did have a ptsd diagnosis, and as I still haven’t had answers, I havent moved on
Initially when I complained to PALS it took 5 months to get a reply, I eventually had to get support from the ombudsman as the drs wouldn’t answer to anything. Every time I called PALS they would say " has no-one got back to you?, we will chase them.
I really thought that the drs hoped if they ignored me I would go away. Our treatment was shocking, as it was my Husbands 4th anniversary on Saturday I asked for the findings to arrive on 16th March. I would like to think that the findings will be an honest representation, but because the aftermath has been so dire,I am not holding my breath. I am hoping to have my two main questions answered, 1, why he wasn’t referred to respiratory services, it was in his notes that it should be done on discharge, it took 7 months for the consultant to realise this hadnt happened. During those 7 months my Husband really suffered chocking and so very distressed. 2. Why another dr turned off his oxygen, wouldn’t answer my questions and walked out of the cubicle. All hell broke out then as it was obvious he was suffering and really distressed. I called a nurse in who asked who had turned the oxygen off, I then was asked to identify the dr in question, whilst the oxygen was being reinstated. Sadly it was all too much for my Husband who passed away without me saying Goodbye and none of his relatives there.I am truly broken by this, sadly I put my trust in the nhs ,and we all paid the price.
@Ivy1 I think you’re right about the Drs hoping if they ignore us we’ll go away but they forget that our lives were put on hold the day we lost our husband, it’s ALL we think about and we’ll fight for the truth until the day WE die. Hopefully not in a hospital. It is meant to be a caring profession and there are many caring people working in it but I do think the higher up the food chain you go in the NHS the Drs and Consultants are treated like Gods, and it amazes me how they close ranks when questions are asked. My husband was a design engineer and he used to say about the NHS in no other job would you get away with messing up to the point of either outright killing people or adding to their death and keep your job. The deal is we might kill you or cure you we might make you better or worse you’ll just have to take your chances, it stinks. I know most people in the UK won’t have a word said against the NHS but I’m afraid I just don’t think it’s fit for purpose anymore. I reall do hope you get your reply by 16th March - do you have any thoughts about what you will do then? I guess it depends on what story they come up with?
The NHS isn’t fit for purpose, and neither of the 2 main political parties thinks that it is financially viable to fund it properly. So, while there’s no viable alternative, we and our loved ones suffer.