King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

3. Miss P complains about the care and treatment King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust) provided to her father, Mr P, on 10 December 2024. Specifically, she complains the Trust inappropriately prescribed a drug called adenosine during an elective procedure, without taking her father’s medical history into account.

4. Miss P explains her father had a respiratory reaction, had to be intubated and sedated and did not gain consciousness again. He died on 2 January 2025, and she says his death was avoidable.

5. Miss P would like the Trust to acknowledge where it got things wrong, make service improvements and provide a financial remedy.

8. The law says we cannot investigate a complaint where a person has (or had) the option to take legal action, unless we consider this is (or was) unreasonable in the circumstances.

9. We have discussed this with Miss P to understand her circumstances and the outcomes she is seeking. We do not consider whether legal action would succeed but whether it would be a reasonable option to look in to.

10. We recognise from speaking with Miss P she is in the process of taking legal action. As set out above, the law sets out somebody should take legal action in first instance before coming to us. We are mindful Miss P is seeking a mix of outcomes. As she is seeking a financial remedy we think legal action may be best placed to explore this.

11. Miss P currently has a solicitor and as a result we think this is a reasonable option to pursue at this time. We understand inquest proceedings are also ongoing. We would not be able to look at the complaint further whilst this takes place. We hope legal action and the inquest processes are helpful to Miss P and achieve the outcomes she is seeking. If Miss P’s circumstances change, and she does not achieve these outcomes, she may be able to return to us for our consideration.

12. We hope we have clearly explained the reasons for our decision to not consider the complaint further at this time. We would like to wish Miss P the best moving forward through the above processes.

1. We have carefully considered Miss P’s complaint about the Trust. We were sorry to learn of the reasons for Mrs P’s complaint and would like to offer our condolences to her. We have decided not to consider the complaint further at this time, as Miss P is pursuing legal action. There is also an inquest ongoing.

2. We thank Miss P for taking the time to contact us to share her complaint.