Latest news with #medicalneglect
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
'Gross failures' and 'neglect' played part in death of newborn baby
The death of a newborn baby girl was in part caused by "gross failures" in medical care and "neglect". A coroner said she was so concerned about the circumstances surrounding the death of Etta-Lili Stockwell-Parry in 2023 that she issued a Prevention of Future Deaths (PFD) report to the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB). Her mother Laura Stockwell-Parry was induced and Etta-Lili was born "in poor condition" on July 3, 2023,at Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor having suffered oxygen starvation, according to a pathologist. She was taken to Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral but died there four days later on July 7. At a two day inquest in Cernarfon Kate Robertson, senior coroner for north west Wales, found that neglect was a contributory factor in the little baby's death. READ MORE: Council crews to search bins and hand £70 fines to rule-breakers READ MORE: Venomous snake bolts into sea from beneath paddleboard at popular Welsh beach Staff had failed to notice problems early enough and a subsequent investigation wasn't thorough enough, the coroner said. Neither a community midwife before the birth, nor maternity unit staff at Ysbyty Gwynedd noticed the baby had stopped growing at about 40 weeks, the hearing was told. Sign up for our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here. North Wales Live reported that the health board said said "significant steps" had been taken to address the failures in this case, which it said was an "isolated incident". Mrs Robertson found cause of death was hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy. She recorded a narrative conclusion at this week's inquest. In a Prevention of Futue Deaths report statement, issued after the inquest the coroner said there were "several gross failures" identified in Etta's mother's care. These failures resulted in opportunities not taken to deliver Etta before she became distressed. There were "many incidences of learning" relating to Etta's resuscitation at Ysbyty Gwynedd, she added. Mrs Robertson found: "There were several opportunities not taken by those caring for Etta's mother. "There were opportunities to identify concerns with Etta through her mother on the midwifery led unit on 2 July 2023 including properly conducting holistic assessments, properly completing partogram and manual palpation of maternal pulse which would also likely have resulted in earlier detection of distress and successful delivery. Etta's death was contributed to by neglect." The coroner also found that Mrs Stockwell-Parry ought to have been referred to the labour ward for close monitoring, but instead, she was induced and received only intermittent monitoring. Her pulse was not always taken and recorded and there was no recognition that Etta Lili's mother's pulse was being recorded as opposed to the fetal heart rate. Mrs Robertson also found the neonatal investigation was not thorough. The investigator neither obtained nor requested statements from the doctors directly involved in Etta's resuscitation, nor did they meet them to understand what had occurred. Mrs Robertson said she is concerned that staff not involved in the incident will not learn enough from events where there is inadequate sharing of learning from an incident. She issued the Prevention of Future Deaths report about her concerns. BCUHB has 56 days to respond with a timetable of how it will act on points raised. Angela Wood, Executive Director of Nursing and Midwifery Services at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, said "significant steps" have been taken to address the issues in this "isolated incident". She said: "We would like to extend our deepest sympathies and heartfelt condolences to Mr and Mrs Stockwell-Parry following the tragic death of baby Etta. We recognise the profound impact this has had on the family, and we are truly sorry for the pain and loss they have endured. "Since this tragic event in July 2023, we have carried out a thorough review of the care provided and taken significant steps to ensure that the issues identified have been addressed. We are committed to learning from this and have implemented a range of measures to strengthen our training and clinical oversight to ensure the safest possible care for mothers and babies." She added: "We want to reassure expectant mothers and families in our care that this was an isolated incident. Providing safe, compassionate care is our highest priority, and we remain committed to upholding the highest standards of care across our maternity services." Get daily breaking news updates on your phone by joining our WhatsApp community here. We occasionally treat members to special offers, promotions and ads from us and our partners. See our Privacy Notice
BBC News
23-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Medical neglect contributed to boy's sepsis death
Medical neglect contributed to the death of a three-year-old boy who developed a strep A infection and later died of sepsis in hospital, an inquest jury has Neillings had been unwell days before he was rushed to the Chesterfield Royal Hospital in Derbyshire in November 2023 but he was not given antibiotics he needed until more than two hours after being inquest heard his care at the hospital was "fragmented" with his sepsis missed and his parents saying they were not told how ill their son bosses said they accepted the findings of the inquest. Speaking after the verdict, Oscar's mother Stephanie Neillings said: "I am so grateful that the jury were able to see clearly what happened... the hospital left Oscar to die." The jury reached a narrative conclusion and said Oscar died from natural causes contributed to by were instructed to record Oscar died from sepsis following bronchopneumonia and invasive strep A coroner for Derby and Derbyshire Julie Mitchell said she would not be issuing a Prevention of Future Deaths report as she was "satisfied changes have been implemented to improve patient safety" at the inquest previously heard from Oscar's mother who criticised medics who treated her son in hospital and "thought she was being crazy" when she suggested he had heard strep A infection was not considered when Oscar attended two out-of-hours GPs appointments on 5 and 7 his parents were told he had a "viral upper respiratory infection" and "did not consider he would deteriorate", the coroner said. After his condition worsened he was seen again at his family GP surgery the next morning where he had a nebuliser put on him and was taken to hospital under blue was seen by clinicians who found he had low oxygen levels and a poor respiratory had a chest X-ray, which showed "significant right-sided consolidation" and was given intravenous fluid and steroids. Mrs Neillings told the court doctors spoke about a chest infection and they were going to administer antibiotics but said care was "unorganised"."I had absolutely no idea how poorly he was until right at the end," she arrived at the hospital at 10:30 GMT but was not given antibiotics until 12:54 due to "delays" from a "prescribing error", the inquest Neillings said a matron came to check on Oscar later in the day and said he had deteriorated and paged for a doctor just before 15:00 and he was taken into intensive went into cardiac arrest three times and died just before 17:30. The Derbyshire Times reported consultant paediatrician Dr Nelly Ninis of London's St Mary's Hospital told the jury sepsis was "not recognised" in Oscar by staff at Chesterfield Royal Hospital, adding no-one really "owned" Oscar's care – which she described as "fragmented".The court was told how there was evidence Oscar was in septic shock the morning of his transfer to hospital, the newspaper Ninis said under National Institute for Clinical Excellence sepsis protocols, a high dose of antibiotics and "rapid infusions of fluid" were needed within the first hour to reverse septic shock, it jury heard Oscar did not receive antibiotics after nearly two and a half hours in hospital and only 10ml of fluid – when he required at least 60ml, the Derbyshire Times said. Speaking to the media on the steps of Chesterfield Coroner's Court following the verdict, Mrs Neillings said: "Our darling little boy was taken away from us and he can't come back."We long for our life to be how it was but have to adapt to this new normal, carry on and carry Oscar with us."I don't want him to be known for how he died, I want Oscar to be known for how he lived, his short life was so full of energy, happiness and love and we will be forever grateful for Oscar." Helen Reynolds, medical negligence lawyer at Fletchers Solicitors who represented the family during the inquest, said they were now pursuing a civil claim against Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation added the trust said it had produced an action plan but had not made it public."This inquest has brought painful clarity to what went so tragically wrong in Oscar's case," she said."The failings in his care are deeply distressing but the family's courage in sharing their story must lead to action."Any changes must be accompanied by clear deadlines, measurable outcomes, and complete transparency. "Families deserve assurance that these commitments are being honoured and no other child will be failed in the same way." Krishna Kallianpur, executive chief nurse at the trust, said: "At the heart of this is a family who have lost their three-year-old son and for that we offer our sincere condolences."We have submitted a full learning review and acknowledge the findings of HM The Coroner with the conclusion of natural causes contributed to by neglect. "We will continue to embed the actions taken to date to ensure that we continue to learn and improve."
South China Morning Post
23-05-2025
- Health
- South China Morning Post
Korean mum probed for ignoring fatally ill son, buying US$144,000 life insurance in his name
A heartless Korean mother has sparked outrage online after it was revealed that instead of seeking medical help for her severely ill son took out a 200 million won (US$144,000) life insurance policy in his name. Advertisement On May 17, the Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency reported that on the night of September 20, last year, a man in his 30s from Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi province, in northwestern South Korea, began vomiting large amounts of blood due to chronic liver disease. Details about the man's family background and the underlying cause of his condition remain undisclosed. Despite losing nearly three litres of blood and an emergency station being just a seven-minute drive from their home, his mother, who is in her 60s and reportedly works in the insurance industry, chose not to call an ambulance or seek any medical help. Instead, she allegedly took out a life insurance policy worth 200 million won in her son's name. The sick man died in a hospital ward after his condition deteriorated to the extent that his heart could not pump enough blood to his body. Photo: Shutterstock The man was eventually taken to hospital by a friend the next day, 25 hours after the incident.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Family of woman who died in Tarrant County jail sues for medical records
The family of a woman who says the woman 'essentially starved to death' in the Tarrant County jail filed a lawsuit Monday demanding the county turn over documents related to her death. Kimberly Phillips, 56, died in custody of the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office on Feb. 18. She was moved from the county jail to John Peter Smith Hospital on Feb. 15 after being put on round-the-clock medical watch in the jail for an unspecified amount of time. She was booked into the jail on Jan. 25, according to county records. Her family believes she died of starvation after not being fed according to her vegetarian diet. The family's attorney, Houston-based Chidi Anunobi, said in a news release that reports indicate Phillips had not been fed since Jan. 27. He cited a private autopsy report commissioned by her family that attributed her death to 'complications of anorexia/starvation.' The Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office ruled her death to be caused by 'complications from dehydration and malnutrition.' The family is asking a Tarrant County district court to compel the Sheriff's Office and the Medical Examiner's Office to release medical records it has requested. Those offices did not immediately respond to requests for comment by the Star-Telegram late Monday. Court records show that Anunobi requested Phillips' records in late February. The Tarrant County District Attorney's Office appealed to the Texas Attorney General's Office to withhold them on grounds that they relate to a pending criminal investigation. The Attorney General's Office granted the appeal on May 2, permitting the county to withhold the records. In the news release sent Monday, Anunobi said his client's case is part of a 'persistent pattern of stonewalling and withholding of information to the families of inmates who have died while under the custody of Tarrant County Sheriff's Office.' The county used the 'pretext of criminal investigation' to refuse Phillips' family the records, he said, adding that 'the little-known circumstances surrounding Ms. Phillips's death suggest possible abuse, denial of necessary care, and systemic failure to ensure inmate safety.' The District Attorney's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Monday. Anunobi's office filed a petition for a writ of mandamus, a legal remedy that seeks to compel the government to fulfill its official duties or rectify an abuse of power. It is 'an extraordinary remedy, which should only be used in exceptional circumstances of peculiar emergency or public importance,' according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Among the records the family is seeking to force the government to release are Phillips' autopsy report, medical records, lab reports, diagnoses, pharmaceutical records and videos showing her body, among other records, court records show. The circumstances warranting a writ of mandamus in Phillips' case, Anunobi argued in the court filing, include 'a long and well-documented history of inmate abuse, preventable deaths, and systemic obstruction of transparency' at the Tarrant County jail. A total of 70 people have died in the jail since Sheriff Bill Waybourn took office in 2017, according to data from the Sheriff's Office. The death of Robert Miller in 2019 showed a '[d]eliberate indifference to serious medical needs,' the lawsuit alleges. Miller died after being pepper-sprayed in August of that year. The medical examiner ruled his death natural due to sickle-cell disease, but a Star-Telegram investigation found that Miller did not have sickle-cell disease. The more likely explanation was an excessive use of pepper spray, experts told the Star-Telegram. The May 2020 birth and death of the daughter of Chasity Congious, a woman with an intellectual disability who gave birth in her cell without guards knowing, displays a '[f]ailure to monitor mentally ill or vulnerable inmates,' the lawsuit states. And the June 2020 death of Javonte Myers, who lay dead in his cell for six hours before guards found him, serves as historical precedent for the falsification of records, the lawsuit states. In September 2023, Tarrant County paid a $1 million settlement in a lawsuit brought by Myers' family alleging jailers had falsified observation logs. 'Unfortunately, Ms. Phillips's case is not an isolated incident,' Anunobi said in the news release. 'Over the past few years, Tarrant County Sheriff's Office has seen a troubling increase in inmate deaths, with many cases involving similar allegations of abuse, neglect, and medical indifference.'
The National
14-05-2025
- Health
- The National
Group of former Iran detainees calls on Stockholm to secure release of Swedish-Iranian doctor
A group of 21 former detainees freed from Iran appealed on Wednesday to the Swedish government to help secure the release a Swedish-Iranian physician who has been held on death row in Tehran's notorious Evin prison. In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, the group said that Dr Ahmadreza Djalali has recently suffered a heart attack and his condition has declined after what it called years of "medical neglect and psychological torment". "No more empty statements. Sweden must act with the same urgency and resolve it has shown in securing the freedom of other citizens," the group wrote, adding that treating Dr Djalali as a "second-class" citizen would be "a profound moral failure". Dr Djalali is a physician and researcher in disaster medicine. He was detained in 2016 while visiting Iran, charged with espionage and treason, and later sentenced to death. He is a father of two. One of the letter's signatories, Siamak Namazi, a businessman with dual US-Iranian citizenship, was held in Evan prison for nearly eight years before he was released in 2023. Mr Namazi's release, together with three other Americans, came after he had personally pleaded with then-president Joe Biden. 'I was in the same ward with him [Dr Djalali] and was very good friends with him. I've spent extensive periods of time with them, talking to him, and it's a really sad case," he told The National. 'I was left behind several times but I was not on death row. It's horrifying.' Last week, in a lengthy post on X, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi implied that the detention was linked to Tehran's lack of access to a Swedish-made treatment for epidermolysis bullosa (EB), a rare skin disease that affects hundreds of Iranian children. Mr Araghchi said access to the medication had long been blocked due to "overcompliance with sanctions" on Iran. "Astonishingly, Swedish authorities also decided to grant citizenship to a convicted criminal after his sentencing for serious violations: an Iranian national with ties to Sweden so strong that he barely speaks some word of Swedish," Mr Araghchi wrote in a seeming reference to Dr Djalili. Mr Namazi said that when he saw Mr Araghchi's post, he thought: 'Let's undo two humanitarian wrongs in one fell swoop.' The group of former detainees say Mr Araghchi's comments offer "a rare opportunity for dual humanitarian action", resolving an issue related to the sanctions regime and ending the unjust imprisonment of a Swedish citizen. "Let us be clear: we unequivocally condemn hostage diplomacy and have consistently called for international measures to deter it," the group wrote in the letter. "But governments also have a moral obligation to rescue their innocent citizens from foreign prisons – even when doing so requires difficult but principled negotiations." The letter comes as US President Donald Trump is touring the Gulf in hopes of securing foreign investments in the US and forging peace agreements in global conflicts. In a speech from Riyadh on Tuesday, Mr Trump blamed Iran for instability in the Middle East, and warned that he would inflict "massive maximum pressure" if it continues to attack its neighbours and support terrorism. His comments came amid talks between Washington and Tehran over a new deal that would put limits on Iran's nuclear programme. Iran described the latest round of talks in Oman as "difficult but useful". The US, meanwhile, has continued to hit Iran with more sanctions.
