Diabetic man died on hospital roof after being sent home
Family heavily critical of NHS after pensioner ejected in ‘confused’ state
A DIABETIC pensioner died on the roof of a hospital after staff physically ejected him despite his “confused” state.
Stephen McManus, a longterm Type 1 diabetes patient, had earlier been taken to Charing Cross Hospital in west London while suffering a hypoglycaemic episode.
Despite colleagues having expressed concerns about his slurred speech and erratic behaviour, a junior doctor decided the 60-yearold had the mental capacity to go home.
The former civil servant was wheeled out of the building by security guards, despite having no phone, money and being in his slippers. His family had not been contacted to inform them he was being discharged.
Some time later Mr McManus re-entered the building and managed to gain access to a construction area, somehow finding his way onto the roof.
He was found dead the next morning following a police search after his family reported him missing.
Tomorrow, an inquest will begin trying to establish why the father of two was allowed to leave the hospital in the first place and how he was able to access a potentially dangerous zone.
Mr McManus’s family say the case raises urgent questions about the treatment of diabetic patients in the NHS. “My father was an extremely vulnerable patient and the nature of his removal from the hospital is inexplicable,” Jonathan McManus, his son, said. “Had he been kept in hospital he would no doubt be alive today.”
Originally from Belfast, Mr McManus had lived with diabetes for more than 40 years.
In the year prior to his death he had suffered recurrent hypoglycaemic episodes, where the blood sugar level becomes dangerously low.
On Sept 4 2018 he was taken by ambulance to Charing Cross Hospital in Fulham. He was given glucose, and a consultant twice declared him unfit to be discharged. However, a junior doctor subsequently decided that Mr McManus had sufficient mental capacity to self-discharge. This was despite colleagues expressing concerns about the patient’s erratic behaviour.
The inquest, at West London Coroner’s Court, will see CCTV of him leaving at 5.48pm, just four hours after he arrived in the ambulance.
Mr McManus’s family claim that when he left his diabetic monitoring devices had not been restarted and he was in a confused state.
He was soon reported missing by his family and the Metropolitan Police launched a search.
Professor Julian Redhead, medical director at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust said: “We have undertaken our own review of what happened to help prevent similar incidents in the future and we are engaging fully in the inquest.”