Expert Calls For Focus On Patient Safety

A medical negligence expert has welcomed news that a widow has been awarded compensation over a hospital error which saw her husband die from an overdose.

The undisclosed amount was given to Lisa Richards-Everton of Sutton Coldfield in relation to the death of Paul Richards, who was administered with five times the appropriate dose of anti-fungal drug Amphotericin at Heartlands Hospital in Birmingham in July 2007.

Heart of England NHS Trust admitted a breach of duty of care in relation to the incident, while a verdict of accidental death contributed to by neglect was recorded at an inquest in February 2009.

Lisa Jordan, lawyer on Irwin Mitchell’s Medical Law and Patients' Rights team, said: “Patient safety must always be a priority for the NHS.

“This tragic case underlines why we continue to call for more efforts to be made to cut the high number of avoidable errors which take place in hospitals across the UK.

“We were pleased to hear that the trust has made changes to its medicine management in order to prevent similar incidents from ever happening again.”