Husband’s heartache at hospital that sent his wife home to die
THEY were due to celebrate their diamond anniversary this year after a long and loving marriage.
But instead James Henderson is grieving the death of his darling wife Betty following a series of catastrophic hospital blunders.
Mrs Henderson died after being sent home from A&E in a taxi in the middle of the night. Her husband found her knocking on the door hours later after being discharged at 2am.
Two days later, the 78-year-old died in pain – a death that ‘may have been avoided’ if she had received different medical care.
Yesterday, Mr Henderson told how he has now ‘lost faith’ in the NHS.
Mrs Henderson is thought to have developed acute pancreatitis, but this was not picked up. Doctors believed she had a stomach bug and sent her home, while she was still in her nightwear.
Mr Henderson said his wife had been sent home from the accident and emergency department at Monklands Hospital, Lanarkshire, by taxi three times in a year without staff notifying him.
He complained to the NHS watchdog and this week the health board was ordered to apologise.
But speaking to the Scottish Daily Mail yesterday, Mr Henderson, 80, said: ‘I am so angry at the way Betty was treated. People have to know what happened.’
The couple were married for 58 years before Mrs Henderson’s death in May of last year, and were to celebrate their diamond anniversary in September of this year.
Mrs Henderson, a former auxiliary nurse, had been ill for a few years but the couple, from Cumbernauld, Lanarkshire, had been enjoying life with their two adult children and three grandchildren. Mr Henderson said: ‘Betty had been feeling unwell and when she asked me to call an ambulance, I knew she was in pain.
‘She was taken to Monklands Hospital but I found her knocking on the door in the middle of the night. No one phoned me or asked me to come and get her.
‘She came in and went straight to bed. She was still ill the next day and I spent the day looking after her. But when I woke up she had died.
‘She had suffered from a few medical complaints and she had a pacemaker. She had also had colon cancer a few years ago. But she coped, she was a fighter.
‘This should never have happened. She should not have been sent home. I know the nurses work hard but I have lost faith in the hospital.
‘Before that, Betty had been sent home twice in a year from the hospital in a taxi without them calling me.’
An investigation by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman found that results of a blood test that showed Mrs Henderson was likely to have been suffering from acute pancreatitis had been ‘overlooked’.
Doctors also failed to carry out a full range of tests on her heart, despite her history of heart disease and diabetes. Ombudsman Rosemary Agnew said NHS Lanarkshire failed to provide ‘a reasonable standard of care and treatment’. Her report, published on Wednesday, outlined her ‘shock’ at the OAP being sent home at 2am in a cab without painkillers, stating: ‘I am critical, even shocked, that this situation occurred at all.’
The report ruled the death ‘may have been avoided’ if more attention had been paid to Mrs Henderson’s test results and if she had been admitted to hospital.
Retired plumber Mr Henderson is ‘relieved’ by the outcome of the inquiry.
He said: ‘I still get emotional – sometimes listening to Elvis Presley songs the memories come flooding back. Little things set me off. But I am very fortunate to have the support of my family and I am luckier than many people.’
Dr Jane Burns, NHS Lanarkshire’s acute divisional medical director, said: ‘This has been very distressing for Mr Henderson and his family and we are sorry he has lost confidence in the care at University Hospital Monklands.
‘We will contact Mr Henderson directly to offer a chance to meet with the team [at the hospital] to discuss his concerns and hopefully provide assurance that we have learned important lessons from his wife’s tragic case.’
‘This shouldn’t have happened’