‘IT’S TOO LATE FOR JAMIE BUT HOPEFULLY THIS CAN HELP TO SAVE SOMEBODY ELSE’S LIFE’
Family welcome changes to the treatment of transplant patients after death of 27-year-old
THE family of a 27-year-old nursery nurse whose death may have been prevented have welcomed changes to the treatment of transplant patients.
Jamie Poole, who received a kidney from her dad, died years later at the Royal Stoke University Hospital after her magnesium levels dropped ‘severely’ low.
An inquest into her death heard medics did not routinely test for magnesium despite Jamie’s health being monitored at a Royal Stoke clinic once a week.
It was only when a doctor ‘pieced things together’ and decided to perform a check that they realised what was wrong.
Then, after Jamie, from Bentilee, was placed in a medically induced coma, she was given an overdose of medication.
Now North Staffordshire area coroner Emma Serrano will be issuing a ‘prevention of future death’ report to NHS bosses to voice her concerns magnesium levels not being routinely tested in transplant patients.
Ms Serrano also ruled that there was a ‘gross failure’ in care as a result of the overdose Jamie was given while in intensive care.
But she told Jamie’s family that, even if she hadn’t received the overdose, she was unlikely to have survived.
Speaking after the inquest Jamie’s mum Karen Poole said: “It’s too late for Jamie, but hopefully this can help save somebody else’s life.”
Consultant renal physician Dr Kerry Tomlinson told the hearing that the University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust had implemented changes following Jamie’s death and they now routinely test the magnesium levels of all transplant patients.
The inquest heard Jamie, from Bentilee, had a successful transplant in 2011 with a kidney donated by her father.
Jamie was prescribed immunosuppressant drugs to stop her body rejecting the organ. But the medication can reduce the level of magnesium in the body.
Her kidney function then started to deteriorate again after contracting pneumonia while working in a nursery in 2016.
The following year, she was losing weight and feeling nauseous and tests carried in June revealed she had low calcium levels.
She was then admitted to Royal Stoke for an infusion after a doctor decided to test her magnesium levels and realised the levels were dangerously low.
But on the morning of June 28 Jamie was found unconscious on the floor after suffering a cardiac event or seizureand she passed away a few days later on July 2.
The inquest heard that this mistake was down to a hospital blunder after a registrar wrote down the correct dosage on a piece of paper, but the note was not relayed to the consultant giving the medication.
Recording a narrative conclusion Ms Serrano sadded that Jamie’s family will receive a copy of the ‘prevention of future death’ report.