BLOOD CLOT PLEDGE FOR GRIEVING DAD
MSPs to take action following his bid to raise awareness
A CAMPAIGNING dad fighting to raise the alarm over the number of people who get blood clots has been told by MSPs they will take action.
Gordon McPherson had been trying to get ministers to raise awareness of thrombosis since his daughter Katie died suddenly from the condition in 2003.
On Wednesday, MSPs heard his petition on the issue at a parliamentary committee and questioned why more hadn’t been done on the subject.
Fergus Ewing said they should write to health secretary Neil Gray to question the government’s position – a move agreed by the other MSPs on the committee. He also said clarity was needed on the numbers affected.
Ewing said: “Plainly Mr McPherson has suffered greatly – he lost his daughter. It’s an absolute tragedy and he’s also provided very detailed information which conflicts with the Scottish Government information.
“He said there were 11,400 cases and the Scottish Government’s was vastly lower. That seems to me to be very important because if he’s right and they’re wrong then we need to do an awful lot more than we’re doing at the moment.”
Gordon, 69, from Langbank, Renfrewshire, said: “I’m really grateful that finally our family’s voice is being heard, after 21 years where we’ve felt like we’re shouting into a vacuum.
“My goal is to make sure everyone knows how to spot the signs of this condition so nobody else dies like our daughter did.”
Occupational therapy student Katie was 23 when she started getting a pain in her lower leg.
Despite visits to the doctor and several hospitals she was sent home with painkillers, and the blood clot in her leg – deep vein thrombosis (DVT) – wasn’t spotted.
Six days later she died, leaving her family devastated.