May 19, 2010

Health care in England -- soon to come to our shores

From The Sun:
Toilet brush 'blunder' death
A YOUNG mum died after a series of blunders by doctors who failed to spot a six-inch long TOILET BRUSH HANDLE embedded in her buttock, an inquest was told today.

Cindy Corton, 35, was left with the bizarre injury after a drunken fall in a friend's bathroom in 2005 but "serious errors" by doctors then led to her death.

It was two years before Cindy, who was in constant pain, was able to convince doctors that the thin serrated plastic handle was stuck in the flesh of her bottom.

By then what should have been a routine procedure to remove it had become much more dangerous because the handle had become embedded in her pelvis.

After two unsuccessful operations in 2007 the mother-of-one was in such agony that she agreed to undergo further surgery in June last year despite being told it could prove fatal.

Cindy of Sleaford, Lincs, spent more than ten hours in surgery at Nottingham's Queens Medical Centre but died from massive blood loss.

Husband Peter, 61, said that when his wife first attended A&E at Lincoln County Hospital she was sent home with painkillers, despite showing them the wound on her bottom.

Four days later she was in such pain she went to Grantham Hospital and, although x-rays were taken, nothing was found.

He told the inquest in Grantham: "She wasn't properly examined by the doctor at Lincoln.

"At Grantham she wasn't examined properly again.

"This was unsatisfactory. The failures to investigate sufficiently in the first place at Lincoln and Grantham were a major factor in Cindy suffering.

"This could have been prevented by early location and removal of the foreign body which would have been a simple procedure at the time."

Recording a narrative verdict West Lincolnshire coroner Stuart Fisher criticised Dr Killian Mbewe who first examined Mrs Corton at Grantham Hospital.

Despite being told what had happened he simply had an x-ray taken which revealed nothing.

"It appears Dr Mbewe did not seek a second opinion, " said Mr Fisher.

"My view is that this failure to pursue further medical inquiries at this stage was a very serious error on his part.

"Had he done so and surgery had taken place I have no doubt Mrs Corton would be alive today.
A couple of things come to mind -- Cindy was probably pretty explicit in describing the plastic thing that embedded -- something that doesn't show up on X-Ray but shows up magnificently on MRI or CAT -- why Dr. Mbewe didn't order further scans (but these machines are expensive) speaks volumes to the kind if care we can expect to receive in the future. The very fact that she initially showed them the entry wound and the fact that the doctor did nothing gives me a chill... Posted by DaveH at May 19, 2010 8:55 AM | TrackBack
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