Clinical negligence claim launched after man dies from infection

Posted 08/09/2010

A clinical negligence claim against a hospital has been launched by a woman whose husband died following what should have been a routine operation.

Kevin Frankitt-Meek went into Blackpool Victoria Hospital for a small procedure on his throat as he was having trouble swallowing, the Blackpool Gazette reports.

However, his condition deteriorated after the operation on March 4th 2009 and despite his wife Lucia Frankitt’s insistence that something was wrong, medics did not give him antibiotics for three days.

Although he had a chest drain fitted on March 12th to treat the infection he had developed, it was too late and Mr Frankitt-Meek died from septicaemia on March 14th.

His widow is seeking clinical negligence compensation from the hospital for its failure to monitor the patient for infection and for not adequately treating it.

“It was horrendous. You wouldn’t have treated a dog the way he was treated. My life has been destroyed. I go to hell and back every day,” she told the newspaper.

According to the American College of Chest Physicians and the Society of Critical Care Medicine, the most common signs of blood poisoning are high body temperature, an elevated heart and respiratory rate and an abnormal white blood cell count.

Rosamund Rhodes-Kemp, who heads the clinical negligence team at Ashtons Legal, adds: “This is a very sad case in what would appear to be a lack of basic nursing observation and care and a lack of timely intervention. These claims can be difficult to establish though, due to the fact it can be difficult to reverse the process of overwhelming infection. Our thoughts are with the family.”