Law Firm Recently Acted For Family Of A Woman Who Died From Sepsis

Lawyers in Leeds, who have acted for victims of sepsis, and their families, are urging people to support the Wear Orange and Help Mend Sepsis Day, organised by the UK Sepsis Trust.

Expert medical negligence specialists at Irwin Mitchell, based at Wellington Place, are encouraging people to take part in the day in an attempt to raise awareness of the devastating diseases.

Sepsis is a life threatening condition that arises when the body’s response to an infection injures its own tissues and organs. Sepsis leads to shock, multiple organ failure and death especially if not recognised early and treated promptly.

Sepsis is caused by the way the body responds to germs, such as bacteria, getting into the body. The infection may have started anywhere in a sufferer’s body, and may be localised or  widespread. It can occur following chest or water infections, problems in the abdomen like burst ulcers, or simple skin injuries like cuts and bites.

Irwin Mitchell represents the daughter of a Halifax woman who died from sepsis, a week after being discharged from A&E.

Shirley Hemingway died aged 77 on 20th January 2013, one week after being discharged from the A&E Department at the Calderdale Royal Hospital, Halifax, part of the Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust, the same hospital where her daughter, Dawn Hemingway, worked for 36 years from 1978 to 2014.

Shirley had gone to A&E on 13th January, two days after visiting her GP regarding abdominal pain and vomiting which she had suffered for four days. Her GP noted that she was pale and suspected that she was suffering from constipation.  When the medication he prescribed to her failed to improve Shirley’s condition she attended A&E as had been recommended.

At A&E, Shirley underwent abdominal x-rays and had blood tests taken and the results of these were deemed to be satisfactory enough that she could be discharged.

An inquest has found that there was a clear history consistent with a small bowel obstruction with vomiting and constipation. Furthermore, the expert instructed by the coroner found that Shirley’s x-rays were also consistent with a small bowel obstruction and that she should have been reviewed by the surgical team rather than being discharged.

The family was made to wait more than two years for the inquest itself as the doctor at the centre of the case, Dr Nafeesa Tabussum, resigned and moved abroad. It is believed she moved back home. However, the coroner’s efforts to track down Dr Tabussum were unsuccessful and the Inquest eventually went ahead without her.

On 20th January, Shirley collapsed at her home and was taken by ambulance to Calderdale Royal Hospital shortly after 7am. On arrival, a diagnosis of intra-abdominal sepsis was made and over the course of the morning Shirley suffered two cardiac arrests. At 12:03pm a decision was made to stop resuscitation.

Dawn’s legal team alleged that the NHS Trust had acted negligently by failing to provide Shirley with the appropriate level of care and failing to identify the small bowel obstruction on the x-rays taken or the significance of the abnormal blood tests taken on the 13th January.

Ross McWilliams, the specialist medical negligence lawyer at Irwin Mitchell who is representing the family, said: 

Expert Opinion

“Shirley’s family have been left heartbroken after losing her, it has been an incredibly difficult time for Dawn to not only cope with losing her mother, but also come to terms with the fact that the hospital failed to treat Shirley correctly.

“We work closely with the national charity UK SEPSIS Trust and know from speaking to many people affected that sepsis can be a devastating condition with around 37,000 people dying of sepsis each year. But there are very obvious red flag signs which were missed in this case and in many others we have seen from across the UK. Errors of this nature are simply unacceptable when it comes to matters of life and death.

“We will continue to work with the family to ensure lessons are learnt from this case and that patient safety is improved to prevent other patients and families going through what Dawn and the family have sadly had to go through.” Ross McWilliams - Partner