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Hospital sued over dad's death
The family of a man who died from a post-op blood clot at Wrightington Hospital are to sue health chiefs for negligence.
Russell Highton went into the hospital for routine knee joint replacement surgery in January last year but died four days later from a deep vein thrombosis.
His relatives have been highly critical of the care he received after the operation, saying that the hospital neglected to put a compression stocking or impulse pads on the 72-year-old's leg or give sufficient physio straight afterwards to prevent clotting.
Neither, they say, did the hospital carry out ultrasound scans or apply the stockings when the clot symptoms emerged.
They say this was particularly necessary in Mr Highton's case because the last time he had an operation – to have his appendix removed 20 years earlier – he had developed a clot and they made a point of telling Wrightington staff about this in advance.
At an inquest last June, the coroner recorded in a narrative verdict that former salesman Mr Highton died from DVT and pulmonary embolism (a clot in the artery taking blood from heart to lungs) but she said there was no way of knowing whether stockings or pads would have made any difference.
A doctor testifying at the inquest said a stocking was not put on Mr Highton's leg because it was "too fat" – something which the Highton family, of Lime Grove, Ashton, Preston, dispute, saying his leg was far from abnormally large.
They were not satisfied with the verdict or treatment and, after hiring a solicitor, are now planning to take Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Trust to court.
Mr Highton's son Paul has since set up a website in tribute to his father called Stop the Clot, which aims to raise awareness of blood clot dangers and treatment both among the public and medical staff.
Paul said: "My father was a very fit man who did not take medication and went into the hospital on the Wednesday morning for a routine operation.
"The surgery itself went well, but when I rang at lunchtime to ask if we could visit him they put us off saying it was better he rested. They later said he had had a chest infection but the pathologist at the inquest said this was not the case.
"This delay in getting him up and about was a bit of a worry in itself because the received practice is to have people up walking within a couple of hours of the operation for the sake of the circulation and then be up on a ward pretty much straight away.
"But my dad didn't go onto the ward until Thursday evening and despite my telling the doctor beforehand that he had had this DVT the last time he had an operation, no compression stocking was put on."
Paul has now set up the Russell Highton Foundation to provide information on the prevention of blood clots.
A spokesman for the trust said: "Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust would like to reiterate its condolences to the family of Mr Highton.
"Mr Highton's death was the subject of an inquest and the findings of HM Coroner are a matter of public record.
"Mr Highton's family initially raised a formal complaint through the trust's patient relations department, which was following due process.
"Whilst the complaint was being investigated, however, the trust was informed that solicitors had been instructed to pursue a legal claim with regard to the issues raised, and, in accordance the NHS complaints procedure, the complaint process was, therefore, stopped.
"It would be inappropriate for the trust to comment further on this case."
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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