Summary
Mrs C complained to us that her husband (Mr C) did not receive a reasonable standard of care from his GP practice. Mr C had been a patient at the practice for three months, having transferred from a different practice, when he suffered a heart attack and died.
Mrs C felt that the practice should have requested a chest x-ray and an echocardiogram (a test which records the rhythm and electrical activity of the heart). She said that there had been a sequence of failed attempts to diagnose and treat Mr C.
We took independent advice from a GP adviser. They found that Mr C had received reasonable care from the practice. The adviser noted that Mr C had been appropriately referred to the hospital respiratory medicine department and consequently considered that it was not unreasonable that Mr C was not referred for a chest x-ray or an echocardiogram. We accepted the adviser's comments and we did not uphold this complaint.
Related reading
View Decision Report 201507985 as a PDF (11.06 KB) Updated: March 13, 2018