Journalist dies after early signs of sepsis were missed
AN INVESTIGATIVE journalist died 24 hours after a hospital failed to spot signs of sepsis, an inquest has heard.
David May visited Derriford Hospital, where he was being treated for leukaemia, in his hometown of Plymouth for an outpatient blood test on Oct 26 last year.
On being discharged, no clinical observations of Mr May’s condition were made. But a day after returning home, he was taken back to the hospital with vomiting and diarrhoea as his condition deteriorated. He died aged 70.
Mr May had developed neutropenic sepsis – a potentially life-threatening condition that can kill someone within an hour – which resulted in respiratory and cardiac failure, an inquest held in Plymouth heard.
Reaching a narrative conclusion, which recorded Mr May’s cause of death as neutropenic sepsis and T-cell leukaemia, coroner Ian Arrow said that University Hospital Plymouth NHS Trust has since changed its procedures around discharging patients.
“Clinical observations on [Mr May’s] physical condition were not made at the time,” he said, noting “a paucity of record-keeping” on the part of the hospital. “On the balance of probabilities, he was not spoken to about the blood test results that were obtained,” he said.
It was likely Mr May had diarrhoea when discharged but he was not requested to return to hospital, he added.
An investigative reporter and editor at The Sunday Times and Time Out magazine, he would go on to produce several documentaries for ITN’S News At Ten and later Channel 4, playing a part in facilitating coverage and publicity of Test cricket.
Mr May’s daughter, Isabel, said “important indicators of infection were at best missed, at worst ignored. His death has since led to a change of procedure for vulnerable cancer patients like him who require constant monitoring.” The trust has been approached for comment.