Posted on 07/30/2010 12:54:21 PM PDT by frithguild
A DESPERATE woman texted photos of herself slowly DYING to her mum as she lay suffering on a hospital bed - being ignored by NHS doctors. Tragic Jo Dowling, 25, sent over forty messages to her mother and best friend including pictures of a deadly rash spreading across her body as her life ebbed away.
The pretty youngster was diagnosed by her family GP with suspected Meningococcal Septicaemia after developing a purple skin rash and low blood pressure last November.
She was rushed to Milton Keynes Hospital where A&E doctors rejected the diagnosis believing instead her illness was a mild infection caused by her Cystic Fibrosis.
Doctors abandoned Jo on a observation ward and gave her headache tablets and fluids as they failed to spot the purple rash spread over her arms, hands and legs.
As the hours passed terrified Jo took photos of her rash on her mobile phone and sent them to her mum and best friend describing her condition as "getting worse".
The meningitis bug left her in septic shock choking and coughing as fluid filled her lungs and she died four hours after her last text message - just 14 hours after arriving at hospital.
Her family yesterday accused the hospital of "neglect" after an inquest at Milton Keynes Coroners' Court heard doctors failed to spot she was suffering 'blood poisoning shock'.
Coroner Tom Osborne criticised the hospital for a "communication breakdown" that led to her death as tragically a simple dose of penicillin and antibiotics would have saved Jo's life.
The inquest heard there were only two doctors on duty to cover the entire hospital the night Jo died.
Devastated mum Sue Christie, 48, of Milton Keynes, a distribution worker, said: "Our doctor knew it was meningitis but when we got to hospital all the care seemed to stop.
"They didn't seem to know what they were meant to do or what meningococcal septicaemia was.
"The hospital was saying it was just an infection. She had a lot of infections with Cystic Fibrosis but never a rash like this.
"I saw her picture messages and the rash was really bad. You couldn't miss them but the nurses did. I thought she was in hospital and with the best people.
"She wasn't given a chance and was left to die without being given any treatment.
"It is so sad as Jo had got through everything with her Cystic Fibrosis and was such a strong girl."
Jo was given penicillin and admitted to hospital at 3.25pm on November 23 last year with a letter from her GP Dr Nessan Carson diagnosing Meningococcal Septicaemia.
Dr Carson listed symptoms as low blood pressure, a raised pulse and a purple rash that would not disappear when pressed with a glass.
The inquest heard locum consultant Dr B. S. Khattak sent Jo for a CT Scan and lumber puncture and results were sent to micro-biology to determine which type of anti-biotics to use.
When the scans showed no traces of meningitis Dr Chris Akubuine, physician in general medicine, refused to continue treating Jo's symptoms with antibiotics.
Instead Dr Akubuine administered headache pills and fluids and left her in the Clinical Decision Unit (CDU) for overnight observations, the inquest heard.
Trainee GP Vivake Roddah failed to keep a written observation record but told the inquest he did not see Jo's purple rash on her hands, arms and legs.
Five nurses also told the two day hearing they did not spot any rash on Jo's body.
As her condition worsened Jo swapped 42 text messages with friends and her mum describing her illness and symptoms.
Just two hours after doctors ruled out meningitis she texted a friend to say "rash is getting worse".
She took around 10 photos of the purple rash on her legs, hands and arms and sent one to her mum complaining her condition was not improving.
Her death was pronounced at 5.20am on November 24 three hours after hospital logs show she was last checked on.
Dad Ivor Dowling, 52, a mechanic, said: "If she had been given antibiotics she would have survived. The hospital failed her.
"The first doctor who saw my daughter did everything he was supposed to do. But after that these doctors and nurses failed to spot her failing vital signs.
"They were obnoxious and arrogant. She was neglected."
Delivering a narrative verdict Deputy Coroner Tom Osborne ruled Jo died from a combination of Meningococcal Septicaemia and Cystic Fibrosis.
He criticised hospital doctors for failing to realise she was in 'blood poisoning shock'.
Mr Osborne said: "As a result of a breakdown in communication the antibiotics was not continued and resulted in lost opportunities to render further medical treatment."
Jo, who was on a waiting list for a lung transplant, occasionally needed a wheelchair to get around after she was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis as a baby.
She worked as a cashier at Great Mills and The Bag Shop, in Milton Keynes, and competed in junior cross country championships as a child.
Her best friend Jess Wales, 20, from Kent, who received the other messages also suffered from cystic fibrosis and died in January shortly after a lung transplant.
A spokesman for Milton Keynes Hospital said: "Following Joanne's unexpected death, the Trust conducted a comprehensive internal investigation to review her care and treatment.
"The findings of the investigation were presented in detail at the inquest today and the recommendations are already being implemented.
"The Trust fully accepts the verdict of the inquest."
Former director Maggie Southcote-Want, 48, revealed a series of shocking incidents at the hospital at an employment tribunal claiming unfair dismissal in May.
Ms Southcote-Want claimed bodies were routinely dumped on the floor of the mortuary fridge and photographs of a car crash victim uploaded to websites, prompting a police inquiry.
She also claimed a locum doctor wrongly analysed dozens of breast cancer biopsies, a leading consultant was suspended for surgical blunders and two employees were caught having sex in the pharmacy during working hours.
The hospital denied the claims.
Look at the names of the “doctors” involved.
Left to die because she was “just English” methinks.
The price for allowing an unchecked, hostile third-world invasion.
Coroner Tom Osborne criticised the hospital for a “communication breakdown” that led to her death as tragically a simple dose of penicillin and antibiotics would have saved Jo’s life.
___________
Takes a lot more than penicillin. Septic shock and bacterial meningitis have a good chance of killing you even if you’re in the ICU with proper treatment, as this girl surely should have been.
Why no follow-through from her family and her GP, when she was sending these messages?
Nazi medicine.
Let the unfirm, elderly, and other useless eaters die.
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Ma'am, I'm sorry for your loss. I hope others will learn from your daughter's senseless death and the ignorance, incomptence and foolishness of the British voter that caused it.
Dying of meningococcemia is not pleasant. Many die from stroke.
I don’t think she died because she was English... I think she died because the costs of her lifetime care were going to be enormous. She was on the transplant list, had cystic fibrosis since she was an infant, they had already treated numerous infections and no doubt some doctor (or nurse, or administrator) realized that if she pulled through this the costs were going to be VERY large — to THE SYSTEM.
This is not the first story I’ve read of such “treatment” of people with chronic illness in Britain. Sadly, I doubt this will be the last such story we hear. In fact, once Obamacare hits full-swing we won’t even need to go “across the pond” to find these stories...
Follow the money...
One more comment for ya — now, I don’t know what the medical schools are like in Britain (which could make a BIG difference), but when my husband needed back surgery his doctor was Middle-Eastern (most likely Muslim) but performed the surgery in a CATHOLIC hospital. He was an incredible surgeon, and my husband has had NO long-term remaining problems AT ALL - even though he had two discs that were herniated.
My daughter had a VERY rare infection in her leg at the beginning of this year. The first hospital I took her to “missed” the diagnosis (thinking it was a hematoma even though there was no bruising, and no history of ANY injury - much less one that would cause a hematoma that large). ALL of her doctors, techs, nurses, etc... at that hospital were “Caucasian” of some sort.
I disagreed with the diagnosis and called our regional medical center who agreed to take a look at her, and ended up admitting her to the Children’s Hospital there within an hour of our arriving... Thank God that hospital and the doctors on staff there LISTENED to me when I said she hadn’t been hurt. She was admitted to the CANCER ward (supposedly due to the illnesses in the regular children’s ward, but I knew it was because it was DEFINITELY a possibility in her case).
Her team of doctors? Two “Indians” (from India), a very old German man, his “understudy” doctor was a recent immmigrant from Eastern Europe (her accent sounded like she was from the Ukraine), a Latino doctor, and a couple “caucasians”. [The hospital staff looks like a UN meeting!] My daughter received INCREDIBLE care, and was diagnosed with a VERY RARE infection that presented in an EXTREMELY RARE (if not almost unheard of way). These fine doctors, lab techs, nurses, and all other support staff (again looking like a UN meeting complete with thick accents) SAVED HER LIFE.
SO, it has NOTHING to do with the ETHNICITY of a doctor, and has EVERYTHING to do with their competency. IOW — a team of doctors that looked and sounded as if we were in the UN saved my daughters’ life, when our local hospital (with folks looking and sounding ALL like “us”) with their mis-diagnosis could have cost her her life — IF I wasn’t there to advocate for her, and if I wasn’t one who LOVES medical information and had years of informal study (just reading about stuff because it’s interesting to me).
SO, all in all... It doesn’t matter where a person comes from, what they look like, what they sound like, etc... What it comes down to is COMPETENCY, and willingness to LISTEN to their patients and family instead of what they “think” MUST have happened.
To think otherwise is ridiculous (and bigoted).
In this case, the BIGGEST thing missing? A PERSONAL ADVOCATE for the patient. WHERE was her mother and father while she was in the hospital? THEY are not the reason she died, but if they were there they could’ve forced them to pay attention. [AND, of course the system there was a factor in her care - without a doubt.] I’m not saying these doctors and nurses in that hospital where the girl was AREN’T incompetent, but if they are it has NOTHING to do with their “ethnicity” nor their names...
It’s very possible that many of the messages sent were late at night or very early morning.
I’m glad everything turned out well for your husband and daughter.
I was being more sarcastic than not, but in today’s Britain you never know...(remember the DOCTOR that tried to blow up an airport with a car full of explosives??? Just a year or two ago.)
Talk about truth in advertising.
If that had been my kid, I would have been at the hospital ‘talking’ with a doctor and finding out what was going on. No one in our family remains in a hospital without a family member present—One of the benefits of a large, hardheaded family.
Bingo! I have seen a host of ordinary American doctors I wouldn't let near my dog, much less my kids. Some of the best doctors I have seen definitely did not have a midwestern accent, but they were highly competent.
Him and Ron Howard are the reasons I don’t watch Andy Griffith anymore. Plus I heard that Aunt Bea was a real potty mouth.
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