Mum Injured while at the Hospital.

Jesswithwings

Sorry to hear what a rough time your poor mum has been through.

I just want to share something that happened to me earlier in the year - I lost a baby (and very nearly lost my life too) due to ectopic pregnancy but the way my ectopic pregnancy was diagnosed was a bit insensitive so I wrote a letter to the head of department. I had a very appologetic phonecall a week or so later and asked if I wanted to take my complaint further (I didnt) she said that all the radiographer's had had a meeting about my letter and they agreed that it was handled insensitvely and they were working on ways to improve the service so that it didnt happen to other ladies going through the same. I thought I'd share that as a positive experience of NHS dealing with complaints.

If you are having no joy whatsoever I suggest writing a letter to the Chief executive of the hospital outlining your upset at not only the incident but also how the complaint has been handled. Our cheif exec is on the ball with complaints in the hospital I work in - but also is equally as hot on complimenting staff when we've done a good job, obviously not every Chief Exec is as efficient though. And not that I would advocate it - (because I am a nurse, and although to my knowledge I havent made a mistake like the nurse in the OP, I am only human and therefore not exempt from error) you could always go to the press if you are that way inclined

clearing_out_my_pockets

My dad was seriously injured by a doctor in 2006 and we received an apology and explanation two months later. Of slight concern to us was the fact that they knew on the evening of my dad's admission into ICU what had happened to him, but had we not demanded to know, we wouldn't have been any the wiser.

The outcome of my dad's case was that the GP voluntarily gave up practicing (his life has also been destroyed through the guilt) but the out of hours service that provided him has still not changed their procedures. The legal case took 4 years to resolve even though the apology and admission of guilt was immediate.

laurad85

My Mum died in March and the care she received in hospital was disgusting, i'm sure animals would be treat better. I wont go into details because when we have enough money we will get a solicitor involved but one thing i cant get out of my mind wa sseveral times when she was asleep they put her food order form on her bed and collected it before she woke up-obviously not filled in. We couldnt visit it her due to visiting times/being at work and several times we came in to find she hadnt eaten and actually had to go ask nurses for left overs. Of course we complained but nothing changed.

On the Friday before she died myself and all of my family requested a meeting with her doctor to ask what was going on with her, she had been in hospital for 2 months, was getting worse not better and was obviuosly loosing weight and becoming weaker. The doctor said she couldnt say how much longer she would be in but her organs were all fine and they hoped to put a tube in to help her feed. On the day she died, we were called into the office of a 'professor' who said my mum would not wake up and we should go in and say our goodbyes. We asked him what had happened in the 3 days since the meeting and said we were very shocked, he was extremly rude and dismissed our concerns saying her organs had been failing for weeks and he knew from the second her saw her (2 months earlier) she would not leave the hospital alive. We were never told this and would have put her in a hospice or would have cared for her ourselves at home-she hated being in hospital and we hated seeing her there.

My beautiful Mum died that day aged 51.

The way my Mum died has been very difficult to deal with, so much so i now have a fear of hospitals and am dreading giving birth to my first baby in December (i found out i was pregnant a month after my Mum died). I truly feel sorry for everyone who has experienced what we have.

Jesswithwings

laurad85 wrote: »

My Mum died in March and the care she received in hospital was disgusting, i'm sure animals would be treat better. I wont go into details because when we have enough money we will get a solicitor involved but one thing i cant get out of my mind wa sseveral times when she was asleep they put her food order form on her bed and collected it before she woke up-obviously not filled in. We couldnt visit it her due to visiting times/being at work and several times we came in to find she hadnt eaten and actually had to go ask nurses for left overs. Of course we complained but nothing changed.

On the Friday before she died myself and all of my family requested a meeting with her doctor to ask what was going on with her, she had been in hospital for 2 months, was getting worse not better and was obviuosly loosing weight and becoming weaker. The doctor said she couldnt say how much longer she would be in but her organs were all fine and they hoped to put a tube in to help her feed. On the day she died, we were called into the office of a 'professor' who said my mum would not wake up and we should go in and say our goodbyes. We asked him what had happened in the 3 days since the meeting and said we were very shocked, he was extremly rude and dismissed our concerns saying her organs had been failing for weeks and he knew from the second her saw her (2 months earlier) she would not leave the hospital alive. We were never told this and would have put her in a hospice or would have cared for her ourselves at home-she hated being in hospital and we hated seeing her there.

My beautiful Mum died that day aged 51.

The way my Mum died has been very difficult to deal with, so much so i now have a fear of hospitals and am dreading giving birth to my first baby in December (i found out i was pregnant a month after my Mum died). I truly feel sorry for everyone who has experienced what we have.

I'm so sorry for the loss of your lovely mum. I don't really have any words but I couldnt let this post go without comment. I wish you all the best with your beautiful baby, I hope you have a good hospital experience (unless you are homebirthing?). Much love to you sweetie x

TooSad

laurad85 wrote: »

My Mum died in March and the care she received in hospital was disgusting, i'm sure animals would be treat better. I wont go into details because when we have enough money we will get a solicitor involved but one thing i cant get out of my mind wa sseveral times when she was asleep they put her food order form on her bed and collected it before she woke up-obviously not filled in. We couldnt visit it her due to visiting times/being at work and several times we came in to find she hadnt eaten and actually had to go ask nurses for left overs. Of course we complained but nothing changed.

On the Friday before she died myself and all of my family requested a meeting with her doctor to ask what was going on with her, she had been in hospital for 2 months, was getting worse not better and was obviuosly loosing weight and becoming weaker. The doctor said she couldnt say how much longer she would be in but her organs were all fine and they hoped to put a tube in to help her feed. On the day she died, we were called into the office of a 'professor' who said my mum would not wake up and we should go in and say our goodbyes. We asked him what had happened in the 3 days since the meeting and said we were very shocked, he was extremly rude and dismissed our concerns saying her organs had been failing for weeks and he knew from the second her saw her (2 months earlier) she would not leave the hospital alive. We were never told this and would have put her in a hospice or would have cared for her ourselves at home-she hated being in hospital and we hated seeing her there.

My beautiful Mum died that day aged 51.

The way my Mum died has been very difficult to deal with, so much so i now have a fear of hospitals and am dreading giving birth to my first baby in December (i found out i was pregnant a month after my Mum died). I truly feel sorry for everyone who has experienced what we have.

Laurad85 huge hugs from me. I lost my mum 18 months ago from negligence she experienced at the hospiital.

I would urge you or your dad to check your house insurance policies for personal injuries cover. We are using my dads to fund the Solicitor and Barrister we appointed for the Inquest, and now to persue the hospital in a negligence case, as the Coroner said in her verdict the Dr's "Didn't give Mrs TooSad the chance for life" the were basically a set of Barstewards who tried to lie and cover their !!!!!! at the Inquest - luckily the Coroner saw through them.

Dads policy will cover up to £50,000 of legal expenses, the inquest was 3 days and a Barrister doesn't come cheap so the costs mount up.

I would also suggest you have some form of counselling if you havent already. My grief made me ill (see my thread) but im on a upward trend now.

Its truely awful to lose our mums anyway when they have so much more to do with their live, my heart goes out to you.

I hope you find some comfort and peace very soon.

Much love
TooSad xx

lindos90

Well just an update, we got a reply but it stated that there was no record of the incident and nothing mentioned in the A&E notes. Mum decided she wanted to see the notes as she clearly told everyone involved what had happened.

We applied and the notes recently arrived. There is a vague mention of 'patient states she injured her back in another department' but reason for admission was stated as 'increased back pain and reduced mobilty' -vague enough!

Whats galling us now is that half the papers we have been sent are blank (they are the reverse side of every piece of paper) and there are pages and pages of ecg recordings whcih we didnt ask for (just requested and Dr or nursing notes) and to top it off, we have copies of someone elses notes in there too!!:eek:

So shes got to pay for copies of blank paper and someone elses medical notes as well as her own:(

Good god, thank goodness she has moved and will never need to go to that hospital again!

Mojisola

It would be worth giving these people - https://www.patients-association.org.uk/ - the details of your experiences. The more examples they have of bad treatment, the stronger their voice will be in getting things changed.

marywooyeah

withabix wrote: »

Cover-ups and lies are rife in the NHS.

Get a Solicitor to write a letter, or write to your MP. The liars at the hospital will 'suddently' sh*t themselves.

yes unfortunately this is my experience too. I was treated appallingly by the NHS a few years ago and underwent extensing counselling. I wrote a long letter explaining the effect of my treatment on me and that I'd had to have 9 months of counselling to help - I got a 2 paragraph letter back saying they were sorry that I felt this way and they would be willing to help me by referring me for counselling. It was like a slap in the face.

so sorry to hear about your mum, I really would look into legal advice if I were you.

meritaten

lindos90 wrote: »

Well just an update, we got a reply but it stated that there was no record of the incident and nothing mentioned in the A&E notes. Mum decided she wanted to see the notes as she clearly told everyone involved what had happened.

We applied and the notes recently arrived. There is a vague mention of 'patient states she injured her back in another department' but reason for admission was stated as 'increased back pain and reduced mobilty' -vague enough!

Whats galling us now is that half the papers we have been sent are blank (they are the reverse side of every piece of paper) and there are pages and pages of ecg recordings whcih we didnt ask for (just requested and Dr or nursing notes) and to top it off, we have copies of someone elses notes in there too!!:eek:

So shes got to pay for copies of blank paper and someone elses medical notes as well as her own:(

Good god, thank goodness she has moved and will never need to go to that hospital again!

I know this probably doesnt seem important to you - but disclosing other patients details is a major breach of the Data Protection Act!
If you complained to the Data Protection people THEY would take this on and it would be taken VERY seriously! so much so that the NHS trust involved would be Sh!tt!ng themselves. and would move heaven and earth to shut you up! they just handed you a very effective weapon!
and the no win no fee people would LOVE this!
Will PM you with the name of a very reputable firm, who specialise in Med Neg.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

lindos90 wrote: »

Well just an update, we got a reply but it stated that there was no record of the incident and nothing mentioned in the A&E notes. Mum decided she wanted to see the notes as she clearly told everyone involved what had happened.

We applied and the notes recently arrived. There is a vague mention of 'patient states she injured her back in another department' but reason for admission was stated as 'increased back pain and reduced mobilty' -vague enough!

Whats galling us now is that half the papers we have been sent are blank (they are the reverse side of every piece of paper) and there are pages and pages of ecg recordings whcih we didnt ask for (just requested and Dr or nursing notes) and to top it off, we have copies of someone elses notes in there too!!:eek:

So shes got to pay for copies of blank paper and someone elses medical notes as well as her own:(

Good god, thank goodness she has moved and will never need to go to that hospital again!

That's a serious breach of confidentiality - I would be contacting the chief exec and requesting that, as you have been provided with the details of patient x, number m0000xxxx confidential medical records, can you assume that a complete set of all notes relating to you mother, Mrs Y, number m0000yyyyyy will be couriered to you immediately, and should you send the copies to the patient and let them know you have their private details or should they be sent to the PCT to take up with the Trust themselves?


(I'm ex NHS staff - not only should the legal department have looked over the request from PALS, the secretary should have done it properly AND the consultant should have checked it before she sent it). There will also be someone responsible for Data Protection in the Trust who will be spitting feathers when they find out about it.


Oh, and keep everything you have received, as you may well find that the whole thing is denied if you actually do send them back.