OAP dies af ter he is sent home by hospital in cab and left in road
A FRAIL elderly man who was left shivering in the street after being sent home from hospital in a taxi has died.
Alexander Withnell, 78, was stranded outside his home in pyjamas and a dressing gown after doctors failed to tell his family he had been discharged.
His son said he found him collapsed in a stairwell after the pensioner was put in a cab with tablets and a medical cannula still in his arm.
Less than two weeks later, his family said Mr Withnell, who was battling a number of health problems including heart failure and fluid on his lungs, died on Thursday morning.
His son Melvin is calling for answers from staff at Edinburgh’s Western General, saying that in the days following his discharge, Mr Withnell had been ‘stressed’, ‘anxious’ and up all night being sick.
The hotel receptionist said: ‘I can’t say this is 100 per cent behind it, but it had a big contribution to what happened. We knew he had heart failure and knew it was going to kill him, but not as quickly as this.’
He added: ‘I’m not letting it go. I’m even more determined now my father has passed. I want a proper apology and I want to know what happened.’
In addition to heart failure, Mr Withnell, who worked as a conductor for Lothian Buses before retiring, suffered from lung condition COPD [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease] and diabetes, as well as mild dementia. He also struggled with his mobility, leaving him unable to reach his first-floor home after being sent away from hospital.
He was discharged from the Western General on August 1, after being admitted earlier that day with fluid on his lungs. He travelled home to the Edinburgh suburb of Colinton on his own in a taxi with tablets to treat the condition, but his family say they did not know he was coming home.
His wife Isabella, 89, had found him sitting shivering on a bench outside their building late in the evening, their son said.
Mr Withnell, who had been there for 20 minutes, was taken inside by his wife. But as she tried to help him up the stairs to the flat the family share, the frail couple fell and became stuck in the stairwell.
Melvin Withnell, 47, found his parents after he arrived home from work. He claims to have been told by hospital staff to remove the cannula – a tube used to administer drugs or remove fluid – from his father’s arm himself.
Of his father, he said: ‘He was home for a week and during this time his breathing and the fluid has got worse. He was taken into Edinburgh Royal Infirmary on August 8 and subsequently passed away on August 11. He went peacefully.’
But he has challenged the decision to discharge him, adding: ‘A week without hospital treatment for the fluid was too long. If they had been treating him in the Western General, he could have been treated and he could here today. It’s been too much for him.’
It follows a similar case two years ago in which 66-year-old Graeme Aitken was sent home in a taxi at 4am from Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, Fife. Mr Aitken, who had been left blind by a severe stroke, was found by his wife Helen clinging to a hedge in his pyjamas with only a packet of paracetamol.
Mrs Aitken was forced to send her husband back to hospital, where had a series of seizures during the night. The grandfather of three, a retired planner, died the next day.
His wife later received an apology from NHS Fife but said she remained angry at her husband’s treatment.
Mr Withnell’s family claim to have heard nothing from the NHS Lothian health board following his father’s discharge and death.
Jim Crombie, acting chief executive at NHS Lothian, said: ‘Our thoughts and sympathies are with Mr Withnell’s family at this very sad time.
‘We have written to the family and we will contact them again shortly to see if they would like to discuss with us in greater detail.’
‘He could be here today’