Hospital delays cause man's death - Alexander Harris settles clinical negligence case
11/03/2005
Thank you very much for all you did for us. Our lives are so much better through your help.
Barry, Doncaster
A 58 year old father died after an admin blunder at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff.
Derek Britton was in a critical condition but a piece of equipment he needed for a life saving operation was delayed by red tape for almost four hours.
Mr Britton from Cardiff was admitted to the hospital coughing up blood and doctors found that a blood was leaking into his lungs due to a complication from a previous medical procedure.
He needed emergency surgery to insert a tube known as a 'covered stent' into the artery to stop the bleeding, but the hospital did not have one in stock and had to order it from the Netherlands.
Overnight, Mr. Britton's condition remained critical. The stent arrived into the hospital at 10:34am the next morning but by the time it reached Mr Britton at 2:20pm, he was in cardiac arrest and died at 2:50pm.
The hospital told Mr Britton's daughter, Debby Britton, that 'the practice of procurement' at the hospital was at fault, the bureaucratic need to record the receipt of the covered stent and to arrange for the payment of the invoice for it and deal with other such financial requirements.
Debby said: "It has absolutely devastated me and my family. My father was my best friend and I am still finding it so hard to deal with his death. He was only 58 and he was looking forward to the birth of his great grand-daughter. I am so angry about this - absolutely livid."
Debby's case against Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust was successfully settled out of court for £15,000.
Her case confirmed a principle that lawyers have been trying to change for years. Under current legislation when someone dies only certain relatives are able to claim bereavement damages. These are a spouse and parent of a child under 16. In this landmark case we used the Human Rights Act 1998 to successfully claim an amount equivalent to bereavement damages for a relative not normally entitled to claim. In this case a daughter.
Debby's solicitor, Partner Louise Hunt commented: "Debby's case was brought under the Human Rights Act and has potentially made inroads into the class of relatives that may be compensated after someone's death. No formal admission was made by the Trust in this case but the Human Rights Act may be used to allow access to justice for more people in the future."
All media enquiries should be made to the media management department at Alexander Harris on 08700 77 88 77.
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