Summary
Mr C complained that St Johns Hospital did not provide reasonable treatment to his late father (Mr A) during his hospital admission. During admission Mr A received an incorrect dose of paracetamol which the hospital recognised and responded to. The board determined that the medication error was not a contributory factor to Mr A's death.
We took independent advice from a consultant geriatrician (a doctor who specialises inmedicine of the elderly). We found while the general treatment provided to Mr A was reasonable, a significant error occurred, leading to Mr A receiving an overdose of paracetamol. Therefore, we upheld the complaint. Wenoted that the board have already taken action to address this failing so madeno further recommendations.
Related reading
View Decision Report 201808122 as a PDF (23.71 KB) Updated: November 20, 2019