Just pull yourself together!
What doctor said as patient fought allergic reaction – minutes later he was dead
A DYING man was told to ‘pull himself together’ by a doctor when he began struggling to breathe during a severe allergic reaction, his grieving family said yesterday.
John Haworth, 58, was taken ill after eating a meal of chicken and chips.
But following a series of blunders during which hospital staff were said to have ‘stood by and done nothing’ he died.
His widow has won a six-figure compensation pay-out after NHS trust bosses admitted his treatment had been sub-standard.
Fit and healthy Mr Howarth, an MOT tester, had initially experienced only a sore throat after the meal in March 2009.
But when his condition worsened an ambulance was called to take him to Royal Blackburn Hospital.
On arrival at the accident and emergency department at 1.40am, he was struggling to breathe and being sick.
However, he and his wife Gloria were left waiting for an hour. When she pointed out her husband’s breathing problems to the receptionist she was told ‘the doctor will see you when it is your turn’.
‘He was getting worse and worse yet they just told us to wait with people who had a broken leg, or who were drunk,’ Mrs Haworth said yesterday. ‘It just felt wrong.’
Eventually the couple were moved, but were wrongly sent to the urgent care centre where Mr Haworth saw a doctor after a 90-minute delay – but the treatment he received shocked his wife.
‘John couldn’t speak, his throat was so swollen – yet the doctor was asking him basic questions about his name and age,’ she said. ‘He left the room and threw an oxygen mask at John saying, “Here, put this on”.’
Shortly afterwards the doctor – Immanuel Ajawan – returned and asked him to lie down. ‘I told the doctor he couldn’t, because he couldn’t breathe,’ said Mrs Haworth. ‘The doctor thought he had a throat tumour – he hadn’t a clue. He was so rude.
‘I said John looked as though he was having a heart attack but the doctor said, “I can see that, but he will have to pull himself together”.
‘The doctor then put a wooden spatula down John’s throat. I remember John gagging and jumping up, it was awful, he kept mouthing “Help!” to me.
‘He was choking yet the doctor disappeared again. I just ran out screaming for help, the nurses dragged me away, and put John somewhere I couldn’t see him.’
She was left in a room by herself. The father-of-two was pronounced dead at 3.21am. Tests later con-
‘They haven’t lost one night’s sleep’
firmed he had suffered an acute anaphylactic reaction resulting in a heart attack, although the cause has never been determined.
Yesterday his widow said the hospital was a disgrace. Mrs Haworth, 68, who ran a cleaning firm in Altham, near Blackburn, accepted undisclosed six-figure damages in an out-of-court settlement.
‘John could have and should still be here today were it not for the conduct of the hospital staff,’ she said. ‘He was my soul mate.
‘It’s unbelievable how much the hospital has messed up my life and they probably haven’t even lost one night’s sleep over it.’
At an inquest, Dr Ajawan said he had left the cubicle twice, once to get his stethoscope and the second time to get some adrenalin, standard treatment for anaphylactic shock. The inquest recorded a nar- rative verdict. East Lancashire Hospitals Trust has admitted that the care provided by its staff fell below ‘expected standards’.
It admitted Mr Haworth was sent to the wrong unit. Medical evidence confirmed that when the doctor placed the spatula on Mr Haworth’s tongue, it caused his airway to close – a mistake which probably wouldn’t have happened in A&E.
Pam Roberts, of Woodcocks Solicitors, which represented Mrs Haworth, said no amount of money would have compensated for her loss. The trust has apologised and said it had made major changes to its emergency care.