DOC ‘SORRY’ AS WOMAN WAS LEFT FIGHTING FOR LIFE AFTER OP
COUPLE MOUNT LEGAL BATTLE AFTER HOSPITAL HORROR
A SURGEON admitted he regrets sending home a patient who was fighting for her life three days later.
David Kingsmore told Adrienne Adair that she would be “drinking a glass of wine” two days after the standard procedure. Instead, she was battling for survival on a life support machine. Adrienne has had to leave her job and was left with with serious health issues, including back problems.
A SURGEON has admitted he shouldn’t have discharged a 50-year-old woman who was fighting for her life in intensive care three days later.
Alex Wallace’s long-term partner Adrienne Adair was released from hospital 24 hours of having surgery to remove a blockage from a major artery in her neck despite complaining of ‘brain freeze’ a choking sensation and severe pains in her head.
The Evening Times has heard a taped interview where surgeon, David Kingsmore who was found guilty of medical negligence involving another patient in 2009, apologises to Adrienne and her husband Alex and says he regrets sending her home.
He also voices criticism of the single room policy at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital saying: “You get a nice room but you don’t get seen as much” and says staffing is an issue.
Adrienne had surgery on Thursday, May 21, 2015, less than a month after the new hospital opened, to remove a blockage on her right carotid artery, which supplies oxygen to the brain.
Mr Kingsmore told her that she would be “drinking a glass of wine” two days after the standard procedure. Instead, she was battling for survival on a life support machine.
Mr Wallace took his wife back to A&E at the QEUH, a day after she was discharged after her symptoms worsened. She was admitted to a room but released the same day and Mr Wallace claims the checks again were inadequate.
The following day, she collapsed on the kitchen floor. She was taken to the Western Infirmary and treated in intensive care for swelling to the brain and damage to her heart.
Alex, 49, from Maryhill, was taken into the family room and told to prepare for the worst.
Adrienne survived but has been left with long-term health issues, including back problems, and has had to give up her job as a supervisor with Cordia.
During a taped interview, Mr Kingsmore maintains that he was happy with the procedure and says it is unclear why she suffered a life-threatening seizure.
However, he admits that Adrienne should have had more thorough post-surgical checks including a chest X-ray before being discharged and is critical she was also sent home without blood pressure medication.
He said: “I wish I had never sent you home that day. I’m not saying it could have prevented what happened, but I wish I hadn’t.
“With single rooms, you don’t get seen as often. You get a nice room but you don’t get seen as often.
“That’s the criticism of here and it’s something we’ve criticised as well.We need more staff.
“There is no doubt in my mind that this was a good operation to have done. The (artery) was well inflamed.
“I’m not happy about a couple of other things.
“You did say you were sore in your neck, which I do see
I regret you didn’t have your blood pressure tablets and in retrospect we should have done a chest X-ray
often and you had a feeling of choking.
“Will it make me pause before sending people home? Yes. It scared me a lot.
“I do regret that you went home on the Friday. I do apologise for that.
“I regret you didn’t have your blood pressure tablets and I do think in retrospect we should have done a chest X-ray.
“I don’t know how much of our system wasn’t working at that time, we had just moved here.”
In a statement, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said senior clinicians had met with the family and had “fully addressed” their concerns. A spokeswoman for the board added that a complaint lodged with the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman had not been upheld.
In the recording, Mr Wallace questions why his wife was discharge from hospital twice without further checks such as a CT scan saying: “I could have lost my wife.
Mr Kingsmore replies: “It’s a right criticism. I’m not even going to try to disagree with you.”
The family are now facing a race against time to find a lawyer to take up the case due to a three-year time bar
fro medical negligence cases.
The case was initially taken up a legal firm, who told the family 17 months later they would have to drop the case because the lawyer knew the surgeon, a conflict of interest.
It was then taken up by another firm but there were further delays after the lawyer left the firm and passed the case on.
Mr Wallace also claims there are inaccuracies in his wife’s medical notes which have increased the complexity of the case.
Bob Doris MSP, who is assisting the family has said the three-year time bar is “not absolute” and has written to the Chief Executive of the Scottish Legal Aid Board, calling for legal aid to be guaranteed for another firm to take up their case.
Lawyers told Mr Wallace that if his wife had died, she would likely have been awarded damaged of up to £2million.
In 2009, NHS Ayrshire and Arran was forced to pay out £134,000 in damages to a man who was left sterile longer after a botched stomach operation performed by David Kingsmore at Crosshouse Hospital.
A judge at the Court of Session in Edinburgh ruled that Mr Kinsmore had been negligent after John McEwan, from Kilmarnock, contracted a form of the flesh-eating bug necrotising fasciitis.
Alex said: “My wife ended up on life support due to negligence from a surgeon who has admitted that there may have been a system failure. She has lost her job and her freedom.”
A spokeswoman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: “The family met with our complaints manager, senior clinicians and management team to discuss their concerns. We responded to the family and felt we had fully addressed the issues they raised but they remained unhappy.
“The family then referred their complaint to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) who, after reviewing, decided not to proceed with this complaint.
“We are sorry the family remain dissatisfied with the care and treatment we provided to their relative.”