Summary
Mr C complained about Victoria Hospital on behalf of his mother (Mrs A). He said that Mrs A had been prescribed a drug which had had serious side effects, causing liver damage and breathing difficulties. Mr C believed that these side effects were well known enough that they should have been considered sooner. Mrs A had been admitted to hospital by ambulance due to breathlessness, but was discharged with antibiotics. She was admitted again a few days later, but it took a further six days for the cause of her symptoms to be accurately identified.
We took independent advice from a specialist in emergency medicine, who said that Mrs A had been appropriately assessed on both admissions to hospital. The side effects she had were very rare, and it had been reasonable for medical staff to rule out more immediately dangerous and common causes for her breathlessness.
Related reading
View Decision Report 201500051 as a PDF (11.02 KB) Updated: March 13, 2018