Mr A complained about the care and treatment provided to his wife in the months immediately prior to her death in May 2021. Mr A complained that Mrs A was sent home from an outpatient colonoscopy examination at Prince Charles Hospital on 26 April with dangerously low blood pressure. He also complained that Mrs A’s prescription of clarithromycin antibiotic, which had been prescribed for a period of 12 months, was inappropriately stopped whilst she was an inpatient at the Hospital between 22 and 29 March. He believed this medication could have protected Mrs A from the sepsis and pneumonia she sadly died of on 3 May.
The Ombudsman found that Mrs A did not require hospital admission on 26 April and this element of the complaint was not upheld. The investigation found that, while there were possible reasons for the clarithromycin to be stopped on 24 March, the reason for discontinuing the medication was not documented. However, it was also found that had Mrs A remained on the medication, sadly it would not have altered the outcome for her. On this basis, this element of the complaint was also not upheld.