Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Family sue hospital after mum dies of toxic overdose
Unlicensed drug caused brain injury
A MUM died after nurses at a leading hospital gave her a “toxic” overdose of an unlicensed drug.
Yvonne Hewitt, 54, had two heart attacks after she was given lidocaine.
She suffered catastrophic brain injury and, despite struggling on for two years, died of organ failure.
Now NHS bosses at University College London Hospital have admitted negligence – and her family are suing for compensation.
Yvonne’s sister Dianne said last night: “There was an institutional failure by the NHS. My sister was failed from start to finish.
“There were so many horrors that she had to deal with and they ultimately killed her.
“I feel that the people who were meant to care for her in hospital struck the final blow.”
A report criticised nurses for giving lidocaine pain control when it had not been approved by the hospital’s use of medicines committee. Yvonne, from Woodford Green, East London, first went into nearby Homerton Hospital in April 2015 to have her right ovary removed. She suffered internal bleeding when her ureter was severed. She went into septic shock and was rushed to intensive care.
It was after an operation at London’s University College Hospital to repair the damage that she was given lidocaine. There was no dosage information on the hospital computer system and a Serious Incident Report found another patient was nearly given the wrong amount in a “near miss” three months earlier. Yvonne was in intensive care when the lidocaine was given in December 2016.
Her husband Owen said: “The operation seemed to have gone well but she was in a lot of pain. I told her to stay strong until the morning. The last thing she said was she was going to be okay.”
Dianne and Owen were horrified when told Yvonne had suffered a brain injury. Owen added: “I just broke down. How could they have given her a drug that wasn’t even approved and which led to her having two heart attacks?
“It is negligence of the worst kind and I am devastated. I lost my best friend when Yvonne suffered that brain injury and my life has never been the same.”
Yvonne was transferred to a care home and died in April this year from multiple organ failure.
Stephanie Prior of Osbornes Law, which is representing the family, said: “This horrendous catalogue of errors left a healthy woman with a catastrophic brain injury and, to all intents and purposes, ended her life.”
A spokesman for UCH said: “We apologise unreservedly that Mrs Hewitt did not receive the care that our patients expect and deserve. We investigated thoroughly and have taken steps to ensure a similar case does not happen again.”