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Irish Daily Mirror
4 days ago
- Health
- Irish Daily Mirror
Mum 'left like a rabid dog' in mental health ward where she was mocked
A mum was "left like a dog with rabies" in a mental health facility where she was mocked by staff, her daughter has claimed, following an inquest that found neglect contributed to her painful and traumatic death. Margaret Mary Picton, known as Rita, died of aspiration pneumonia after choking on paper in September 2022. Despite Rita's passing nearly three years ago, her heartbroken family had to wait until earlier this year for an inquest that would reveal the neglect she endured at Leigh Moss Hospital in Liverpool, which is run by Mersey Care mental health trust and specifically caters for patients with dementia. Rita was 76 when she passed away, but her health had been deteriorating for several years after she began suffering from vascular dementia. "Mum was a very straightforward person, she would always tell it like it is," explained Rita's daughter, Rachel Burkey, 51. "She was very good natured and would always give her kids whatever we needed. She was a really good mum. "But a few years ago I noticed changes in her behaviour and her mood. Then my sister called to say she was confused and had come at her with a knife. It was horrendous," reports the Mirror. After being in a care home in St Helens, Rita's unpredictable and sometimes aggressive behaviour led to her being sectioned under the Mental Health Act and taken to Leigh Moss on September 10, as reported by the Liverpool Echo. Upon her arrival on the ward, medics determined that Rita required monitoring at least every quarter of an hour due to her fluctuating mental state and history of self-harm incidents. An inquest at Liverpool Coroner's Court in January was told that ward personnel failed to seize chances to address Rita's erratic and perilous conduct, including an incident where she stabbed herself with a pen. Personnel failed to escalate these incidents and monitoring was not properly implemented. One member of staff, who bore responsibility for interacting with Rita on the wards, made no "meaningful attempts to engage positively" with her, the inquest determined. Even more damning, he was characterised as "unprofessional and disrespectful" when making gestures towards her. Rachel provided further details about this staff member's conduct after viewing CCTV footage during the inquest. She continued: "On the CCTV I have seen, she is in the corner, she looks like she has been there for hours. To me, she looked like she had been left like a dog with rabies. "He (the staff member) was pretending to shoot a bow and arrow at her and pretending to shoot himself in the head. He even mimicked her when she was eating paper." Coroner Helen Rimmer determined that monitoring of Rita was "limited and of poor quality", resulting in missed chances to recognise a decline in her condition and raise alarm bells. For a full 60 minutes there was no supervision of her whatsoever owing to a "communication breakdown" amongst personnel. The coroner stated: "This was fundamental basic care and supervision, which more likely than not would have led to an escalation and review of Rita's behaviour and presentation at that time had the requisite observations been undertaken." The Irish Mirror's Crime Writers Michael O'Toole and Paul Healy are writing a new weekly newsletter called Crime Ireland. Click here to sign up and get it delivered to your inbox every week The inquest heard that CCTV footage then revealed at least five, possibly six instances where Rita could be observed placing paper in her mouth, with staff present on every occasion. Whilst they did step in and remove some paper from her, they again failed to escalate concerns. On the evening of September 10, one staff member witnessed Rita consuming paper and did not take it away from her, instead gesturing an eating motion to someone else. He then positioned himself with his back to Rita, failing to adequately supervise or monitor her. In her record of inquest, the coroner states: "Staff were aware of the choking risk of paper eating but failed to escalate matters, intervene, and appropriately monitor Rita." She added: "It is more likely than not that had staff been appropriately observing and supporting Rita, they would have removed all paper from her or in the alternative escalated concerns about Rita eating paper earlier with the nurse in charge who would then have removed any paper from Rita, identified any continuing concerns and reviewed risks, which would have included consideration of the level of Rita's supportive observations. This would have more likely than not prevented Rita from eating paper and subsequently choking." Rita shockingly collapsed shortly after, and the staff who had witnessed her eating paper failed to inform those performing CPR on her about this, hence choking prevention measures were not considered. Paramedics were summoned but were delayed due to being locked out of the hospital building. When they finally arrived, CPR had been ongoing for 25 minutes and Rita had suffered two cardiac arrests before the paramedics were informed that Rita had been consuming paper prior to her collapse. This delay prevented the paramedics from promptly removing the paper, which was obstructing Rita's airway. The coroner remarked: "This was basic care and treatment that should have been undertaken and raised sooner. Not to have provided this basic care and information to professionals treating Rita was a gross failure which more likely than not hastened Rita's death." Rachel described these failures as "sickening", adding: "I can't believe they didn't even tell the paramedics that she had chewed paper until the very end. She had two cardiac arrests before they said anything. It is hard to think of that being her end." Rita was transported to the Royal Liverpool Hospital where she developed aspiration pneumonia and tragically passed away on September 26, 2022. The coroner declared: "The aspiration pneumonia was more likely than not caused by Rita eating the paper, the resuscitation efforts that followed Rita eating the paper and collapsing or a combination of both. "The failure to immediately notify staff and paramedics that Rita had ingested paper prior to her collapse represented a failure to render care that would more likely than not have prolonged her life." Ms Rimmer continued: "Having identified a specific gross failure which clearly amounts to neglect, it is also found that the accumulation of the catalogue of missed opportunities throughout the care of Rita by those involved in her care at Leigh Moss Hospital, namely the acts and omissions mentioned above, have as a whole also amounted to neglect." Aware of the shortcomings in their mum's care, Rachel and her sister Jak sought justice but faced a lengthy wait for the inquest due to various delays. They hired a barrister for the hearing to ensure they achieved the right outcome for their mum. "I thought, I am going to get my mum justice," Rachel added. "I am going to make them tell me what they did. This was about accountability. "We came out of that inquest and we said 'we've done you proud mum', she was neglected and people will know that. I feel like we got justice and by sharing it with the ECHO everyone will know what happened." Rachel said: "Mum was a fighter, even on that day on the CCTV she was still giving as good as she got. We will remember her fight and her spirit, she went through a lot and that's the sad thing. She shouldn't have been left like a dog in the corner, with no one doing anything except teasing her and basically watching her die. "But I think mum would be looking down now and saying 'good on you girls' for us fighting like this. I can see her saying that, she was really feisty. She was a lovely mum and a strong woman who wouldn't back down from what she thought was right." A spokesperson for Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust stated: "We'd like to again offer our sincere condolences to the family, friends and loved ones of Margaret Mary Picton. While we are unable to comment on individual patient care because of rules governing patient confidentiality, we can confirm that we fully co-operated with the Coroner's investigation. We also accept the findings of the Assistant Coroner, Helen Rimmer and would like to sincerely apologise for the shortcomings in care. "A patient safety learning review was undertaken following the tragic circumstances which led to Mrs Picton's death. This is in line with the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) which is the NHS approach for responding to patient safety incidents, focussing on learning and making immediate changes to ensure patient safety, through a compassionate, system based and proportionate approach. "As a Trust, we remain committed to learning with efforts to ensure that incidents of this nature do not recur." Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here.
Daily Record
4 days ago
- Health
- Daily Record
Mum treated like 'rabid dog' before choking to death on paper
Margaret Mary Picton, known as Rita, died of aspiration pneumonia. A woman said her vulnerable mum was 'left like a dog' and mocked by staff in a mental health facility. An inquest found that neglect she suffered contributed to Margaret Mary Picton's painful and traumatic death. She died of aspiration pneumonia after choking on paper in September 2022. While Margaret, known as Rita, from St Helens, died nearly three years ago, her devastated family had to wait until earlier this year for an inquest that would shed light on the shocking neglect she suffered on the Fern Ward at Leigh Moss Hospital in Liverpool, which is operated by the region's Mersey Care mental health trust and specifically cares for patients with dementia. Rita was 76 when she died but her health had been declining for some years after she began suffering from vascular dementia, reports the ECHO. "Mum was a very straightforward person, she would always tell it like it is," explained Rita's daughter, Rachel Burkey, 51. "She was very good natured and would always give her kids whatever we needed. She was a really good mum. "But a few years ago I noticed changes in her behaviour and her mood. Then my sister called to say she was confused and had come at her with a knife. It was horrendous." Having been in a care home in St Helens for some time, Rita's unpredictable and at times aggressive behaviour led to her being sectioned sectioned under the Mental Health Act and taken to Leigh Moss on September 10 at 3am. "We got the call to say they wanted to section her," explained Rachel. "Obviously her needs would go ahead whatever we wanted and we said if this is what mum needed in order to get help then we weren't against it." On admission to the ward, it was decided that Rita should be observed by staff at least every 15 minutes because of her changing mood and previous incidents of self harming. The inquest at Liverpool Coroner's Court in January heard that staff on the ward missed opportunities to respond to Rita's erratic and dangerous behaviour, including stabbing herself with a pen. Staff did not escalate the incidents and observations were not correctly carried out. One particular staff member, who was responsible for engaging with Rita on the wards, did not make any "meaningful attempts to engage positively" with her, the inquest concluded. Worse than that, he was described as "unprofessional and disrespectful" when making gestures towards her. Rachel elaborated on the behaviour of this staff member having seen CCTV images during the inquest. She added: "On the CCTV I have seen, she is in the corner, she looks like she has been there for hours. To me, she looked like she had been left like a dog with rabies. "He (the staff member) was pretending to shoot a bow and arrow at her and pretending to shoot himself in the head. He even mimicked her when she was eating paper." The coroner Helen Rimmer concluded that Rita's observations were "limited and of poor quality", meaning further opportunities were missed to identify a deterioration in her behaviour and to escalate concerns. For one hour there were no observations of her at all due to a "communication breakdown" between staff. The coroner stated: "This was fundamental basic care and supervision, which more likely than not would have led to an escalation and review of Rita's behaviour and presentation at that time had the requisite observations been undertaken." The inquest was told that CCTV footage then showed at least five, possibly six occasions where Rita could be seen placing paper in her mouth, with staff present on all occasions. While they did intervene and remove some paper from her, they again did not escalate concerns. In the evening of September 10, one member of staff saw Rita eating paper and did not remove it from her, instead miming an action of eating paper to someone else and sat with his back to Rita, failing to properly supervise or monitor her. In her record of inquest, the coroner states: "Staff were aware of the choking risk of paper eating but failed to escalate matters, intervene, and appropriately monitor Rita. She added: "It is more likely than not that had staff been appropriately observing and supporting Rita, they would have removed all paper from her or in the alternative escalated concerns about Rita eating paper earlier with the nurse in charge who would then have removed any paper from Rita, identified any continuing concerns and reviewed risks, which would have included consideration of the level of Rita's supportive observations. This would have more likely than not prevented Rita from eating paper and subsequently choking." Rita collapsed shortly afterwards and shockingly the staff who had seen her eating paper did not tell those performing CPR on her about this, so choking prevention measures were not considered. Paramedics were called but were delayed by being locked out of the hospital building. When they did arrive, CPR had been ongoing for 25 minutes and Rita had gone into cardiac arrest twice before the paramedics were told that Rita had been eating paper prior to her collapsing. This delayed the paramedics from removing the paper, which was causing a blockage in Rita's airway. The coroner stated: "This was basic care and treatment that should have been undertaken and raised sooner. Not to have provided this basic care and information to professionals treating Rita was a gross failure which more likely than not hastened Rita's death." Rachel described these failures as "sickening", adding: "I can't believe they didn't even tell the paramedics that she had chewed paper until the very end. She had two cardiac arrests before they said anything. It is hard to think of that being her end." Rita was taken to the Royal Liverpool Hospital where she went onto develop aspiration pneumonia and died on September 26 2022. The coroner stated: "The aspiration pneumonia was more likely than not caused by Rita eating the paper, the resuscitation efforts that followed Rita eating the paper and collapsing or a combination of both. The failure to immediately notify staff and paramedics that Rita had ingested paper prior to her collapse represented a failure to render care that would more likely than not have prolonged her life. Ms Rimmer added: "Having identified a specific gross failure which clearly amounts to neglect, it is also found that the accumulation of the catalogue of missed opportunities throughout the care of Rita by those involved in her care at Leigh Moss Hospital, namely the acts and omissions mentioned above, have as a whole also amounted to neglect." Knowing that there had been failures in her mum's care, Rachel and her sister Jak fought for justice but had to wait years for the inquest to take place because of various delays. They instructed a barrister for the hearing to ensure they got the right result for their mum. "I thought, I am going to get my mum justice," added Rachel. "I am going to make them tell me what they did. This was about accountability. "We came out of that inquest and we said 'we've done you proud mum', she was neglected and people will know that. I feel like we got justice and by sharing it with the ECHO everyone will know what happened." Rachel added: "Mum was a fighter, even on that day on the CCTV she was still giving as good as she got. We will remember her fight and her spirit, she went through a lot and that's the sad thing. She shouldn't have been left like a dog in the corner, with no one doing anything except teasing her and basically watching her die. But I think mum would be looking down now and saying 'good on you girls' for us fighting like this. I can see her saying that, she was really feisty. She was a lovely mum and a strong woman who wouldn't back down from what she thought was right." In a statement, A Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust spokesperson said, 'We'd like to again offer our sincere condolences to the family, friends and loved ones of Margaret Mary Picton. While we are unable to comment on individual patient care because of rules governing patient confidentiality, we can confirm that we fully co-operated with the Coroner's investigation. We also accept the findings of the Assistant Coroner, Helen Rimmer and would like to sincerely apologise for the shortcomings in care. "A patient safety learning review was undertaken following the tragic circumstances which led to Mrs Picton's death. This is in line with the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) which is the NHS approach for responding to patient safety incidents, focussing on learning and making immediate changes to ensure patient safety, through a compassionate, system based and proportionate approach.
Daily Mirror
4 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mirror
'Mum was left like a rabid dog and then mocked before dying'
Margaret 'Rita' Picton died a painful and traumatic death at Fern Ward at Leigh Moss Hospital in Liverpool with a coroner at her inquest telling of "gross failures" A mum was "left like a dog with rabies" in a mental health facility where she was mocked by staff, says her daughter, and an inquest found that neglect contributed to her painful and traumatic death. Margaret Mary Picton, known as Rita, died of aspiration pneumonia after choking on paper in September, 2022. While Rita, from St Helens, Merseyside died nearly three years ago, her devastated family had to wait until earlier this year for an inquest that would shed light on the neglect she suffered on the Fern Ward at Leigh Moss Hospital in Liverpool, which is operated by the region's Mersey Care mental health trust and specifically cares for patients with dementia. Rita was 76 when she died but her health had been declining for some years after she began suffering from vascular dementia. "Mum was a very straightforward person, she would always tell it like it is," explained Rita's daughter, Rachel Burkey, 51. "She was very good natured and would always give her kids whatever we needed. She was a really good mum. "But a few years ago I noticed changes in her behaviour and her mood. Then my sister called to say she was confused and had come at her with a knife. It was horrendous." Having been in a care home in St Helens, Rita's unpredictable and at times aggressive behaviour saw her sectioned under the Mental Health Act and taken to Leigh Moss on September 10, reported the Liverpool Echo. On admission to the ward, it was decided that Rita should be observed at least every 15 minutes because of her changing mood and previous incidents of self harming. An inquest at Liverpool Coroner's Court in January heard that staff on the ward missed opportunities to respond to Rita's erratic and dangerous behaviour, including stabbing herself with a pen. Staff did not escalate the incidents and observations were not correctly carried out. One staff member, who was responsible for engaging with Rita on the wards did not make any "meaningful attempts to engage positively" with her, the inquest concluded. Worse than that, he was described as "unprofessional and disrespectful" when making gestures towards her. Rachel elaborated on the behaviour of this staff member having seen CCTV images during the inquest. She added: "On the CCTV I have seen, she is in the corner, she looks like she has been there for hours. To me, she looked like she had been left like a dog with rabies. "He (the staff member) was pretending to shoot a bow and arrow at her and pretending to shoot himself in the head. He even mimicked her when she was eating paper." The coroner Helen Rimmer concluded that observations of Rita were "limited and of poor quality", meaning further opportunities were missed to identify a deterioration in her behaviour and to escalate concerns. For one hour there were no observations of her at all due to a "communication breakdown" between staff. The coroner stated: "This was fundamental basic care and supervision, which more likely than not would have led to an escalation and review of Rita's behaviour and presentation at that time had the requisite observations been undertaken." The inquest heard that CCTV footage then showed at least five, possibly six occasions where Rita could be seen placing paper in her mouth, with staff present on all occasions. While they did intervene and remove some paper from her, they again did not escalate concerns. In the evening of September 10, one member of staff saw Rita eating paper and did not remove it from her, instead miming an action of eating paper to someone else. He then sat with his back to Rita, failing to properly supervise or monitor her. In her record of inquest, the coroner states: "Staff were aware of the choking risk of paper eating but failed to escalate matters, intervene, and appropriately monitor Rita. She added: "It is more likely than not that had staff been appropriately observing and supporting Rita, they would have removed all paper from her or in the alternative escalated concerns about Rita eating paper earlier with the nurse in charge who would then have removed any paper from Rita, identified any continuing concerns and reviewed risks, which would have included consideration of the level of Rita's supportive observations. This would have more likely than not prevented Rita from eating paper and subsequently choking." Soon after, Rita collapsed and shockingly the staff who had seen her eating paper did not tell those performing CPR on her about this, so choking prevention measures were not considered. Paramedics were called but were delayed by being locked out of the hospital building. When they did arrive, CPR had been ongoing for 25 minutes and Rita had gone into cardiac arrest twice before the paramedics were told that Rita had been eating paper prior to her collapsing. This delayed the paramedics from removing the paper, which was causing a blockage in Rita's airway. The coroner stated: "This was basic care and treatment that should have been undertaken and raised sooner. Not to have provided this basic care and information to professionals treating Rita was a gross failure which more likely than not hastened Rita's death." Rachel described these failures as "sickening", adding: "I can't believe they didn't even tell the paramedics that she had chewed paper until the very end. She had two cardiac arrests before they said anything. It is hard to think of that being her end." Rita was taken to the Royal Liverpool Hospital where she went onto develop aspiration pneumonia and died on September 26 2022. The coroner stated: "The aspiration pneumonia was more likely than not caused by Rita eating the paper, the resuscitation efforts that followed Rita eating the paper and collapsing or a combination of both. The failure to immediately notify staff and paramedics that Rita had ingested paper prior to her collapse represented a failure to render care that would more likely than not have prolonged her life. Ms Rimmer added: "Having identified a specific gross failure which clearly amounts to neglect, it is also found that the accumulation of the catalogue of missed opportunities throughout the care of Rita by those involved in her care at Leigh Moss Hospital, namely the acts and omissions mentioned above, have as a whole also amounted to neglect." Knowing that there had been failures in her mum's care, Rachel and her sister Jak fought for justice but had to wait years for the inquest to take place because of various delays. They instructed a barrister for the hearing to ensure they got the right result for their mum. "I thought, I am going to get my mum justice," added Rachel. "I am going to make them tell me what they did. This was about accountability. "We came out of that inquest and we said 'we've done you proud mum', she was neglected and people will know that. I feel like we got justice and by sharing it with the ECHO everyone will know what happened." Rachel added: "Mum was a fighter, even on that day on the CCTV she was still giving as good as she got. We will remember her fight and her spirit, she went through a lot and that's the sad thing. She shouldn't have been left like a dog in the corner, with no one doing anything except teasing her and basically watching her die. But I think mum would be looking down now and saying 'good on you girls' for us fighting like this. I can see her saying that, she was really feisty. She was a lovely mum and a strong woman who wouldn't back down from what she thought was right." In a statement, A Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust spokesperson said, 'We'd like to again offer our sincere condolences to the family, friends and loved ones of Margaret Mary Picton. While we are unable to comment on individual patient care because of rules governing patient confidentiality, we can confirm that we fully co-operated with the Coroner's investigation. We also accept the findings of the Assistant Coroner, Helen Rimmer and would like to sincerely apologise for the shortcomings in care. "A patient safety learning review was undertaken following the tragic circumstances which led to Mrs Picton's death. This is in line with the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) which is the NHS approach for responding to patient safety incidents, focussing on learning and making immediate changes to ensure patient safety, through a compassionate, system based and proportionate approach. "As a Trust, we remain committed to learning with efforts to ensure that incidents of this nature do not recur.'
BBC News
22-07-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Liverpool mum says measles death led to her MMR vaccine rethink
A mother-of-three who previously had vaccine safety concerns said she had allowed her children to have the MMR jab following the recent death of a child with from Liverpool, said she and some of her friends had been sceptical, especially since the development and rollout of Covid when she learned about rising measles cases on Merseyside, including a death at Alder Hey Children's Hospital, Aimee said she had reconsidered her stance."I thought it was about time I got it done," she told BBC News. Aimee said she had been reluctant to have her children - aged six, five and three - vaccinated due to a friend's negative experiences."With that being close and personal I chose that that was not what I wanted for my child," she also said she had spoken with other parents who were concerned about the speed of the Covid vaccine rollout."A lot of people are scared of vaccines now and do question whether it is what we need in our children's bodies," she after seeing recent news of children falling ill with measles and other diseases including meningitis, Aimee said she had changed her mind."That was the other side of the coin," she said. "I thought it was about time I got it done." Aimee attended one of several catch-up vaccination clinics that are being run across Merseyside this Connell, an uptake improvement officer at Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, said the clinics were about having an "open conversation" with parents to explain how the vaccination process works and what is involved."If the parent is unsure we are there to speak to them and explain," she said there was "a lot of misinformation on social media" about vaccines."I definitely look more for the NHS side of things instead of choosing to believe what's on the community gossip pages," she said she was "very relieved" that her children would be fully vaccinated ahead of winter."I'll be able to rest now if a cold comes about," she explained, saying many of her fears about more serious illnesses had been allayed. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
