Widow loses £400,000 legal battle with NHS over negligence claim

Woman said doctor did not follow best practice in treating her husband

A widow who claimed her husband died because of a senior doctor’s alleged negligence has lost her £400,000 legal battle.

Jennifer McCulloch, 48, from Perthshire, sued Forth Valley Health Board at the Court of Session because she believed her husband Neil did not receive adequate treatment at Forth Valley Royal Hospital in 2012.

Mr McCulloch was admitted to the medical facility in Larbert, Stirlingshire, on three occasions in 2012.

He had been initially admitted to the hospital on March 23 after becoming seriously unwell with chest pains. Doctors suspected he was battling acute respiratory distress syndrome.

He was intubated and ventilated and recovered enough to be released from hospital on March 30.

Mr McCulloch was admitted to hospital for a second time on April 1 2012 suffering from chest pains.

Doctors again thought he made a recovery and he left for home on April 6 2012.

Mrs McCulloch said that on this occasion, Mr McCulloch, who was aged 39 at the time, was visibly unwell.

She said he had to be taken out of the hospital in a wheelchair and had to be helped into a car.

Mrs McCulloch said her husband struggled to climb the steps into their home and she could hear him being sick during the night.

Mr McCulloch then went into cardiac arrest and died the following day.

Mrs McCulloch, of Braco, believed that a consultant cardiologist who treated her husband – Dr Catherine Labinjoh – acted negligently and did not follow best practice in treating him during his stay in hospital.

Her lawyers told judge Lord Tyre that the evidence showed Dr Labinjoh could have done more to prevent Mr McCulloch from going into cardiac arrest and dying.

She sued the health board for £100,000 as executor of Mr McCulloch’s estate and £300,000 as an individual.

Lawyers acting for the health board argued that the evidence available to the court did not show that Dr Labinjoh acted incorrectly with regard to Mr McCulloch. Both legal teams agreed that Mr McCulloch died from heart issues.

In a written judgment, Lord Tyre ruled in favour of the health board.

He wrote: “There is simply no basis in the evidence... whatever it may have consisted of, treatment would have been likely to be successful in preventing Mr McCulloch’s death.”