Blake Lapthorn represents client at clinical negligence inquest
On 12 and 13 January 2012 HM Coroner for Southampton and the New
Forest will conduct the inquest in to death of Gary Lovett
(deceased), a
twenty-year-old who died from pneumonia in spite
of his family’s attempts to obtain medical advice.
In the week before
Christmas 2010 Gary became unwell with symptoms including
temperature, vomiting, productive cough and pains in his
chest. On 23 December
2010 he sought advice from his GP but was only offered a
telephone appointment that took place the following day but
no specific treatment was given. On Christmas Day his
family twice sought
advice from NHS Direct but were just advised by telephone that Gary
should self-care. Mr and Mrs Lovett were unhappy with that
opinion and so contacted the GP’s out-of-hours service for help, resulting in a
telephone consultation with a nurse and Gary was asked to attend
later in the afternoon at the Primary Care Centre Clinic at Royal
South Hants Hospital to see a doctor.
On arrival at the clinic, Gary was so unwell he had to lie on
the back seat of the car and was taken in by his mother by
wheelchair. He was seen by the GP, Dr Kadri, who diagnosed a
chest infection and much to the surprise of Mr and Mrs Lovett sent
Gary back home instead of admitting him to hospital. Shortly
after midnight, Gary’s
condition deteriorated and his parents called the out-of-hours service and then an emergency
ambulance that took
him to the accident and emergency department at Southampton General
Hospital. Gary’s breathing at this point was very severely
impaired and he had lost the power in his legs. On 26
December 2010 at 3.10 am his heart stopped and the doctors were
unable to resuscitate him and he died.
The Coroner will be hearing evidence at the
inquest from the out-of-hours service nurse, out-of-hours GP Dr Kadri, a pathologist and
Mr and Mrs Lovett and the inquest is expected to last for two
days.
Mr John White, a partner at Blake Lapthorn solicitors
and specialist lawyer in medical negligence, will be representing
the family. Mr White said: “Gary was becoming seriously
ill and Mr and Mrs Lovett did all the right things by calling the
GP, NHS Direct and the out-of-hours service for help but the advice
they got reassured them that the condition was less serious when
actually Gary needed to be in hospital. If they had not been
given that reassurance they would have followed their instincts and
taken Gary straight to A&E for treatment and he may now
still be alive. It cannot be right in this day and age for a
twenty year old who is seeking medical help to die of pneumonia
that could have been
treated by antibiotics and intravenous fluids. I think this
case calls seriously in to question the accessibility of the
out-of-hours emergency medical services and
highlights the problems of continuity of care between healthcare
professions in a fragmented service. I will be asking the
Coroner to look at these issues very carefully when he explores the
evidence in the Coroner’s court.”
