£35,000 obtained for family of a man who died following failures in ambulance service care

Sharon Allison, a specialist medical negligence lawyer, has obtained a settlement of £35,000 for the family of a man who died after an ambulance crew failed to undertake an appropriately robust assessment of his condition and to take appropriate follow up action.

Mr T had problems with back pain which led on to chronic depression and attempts to take his own life. An ambulance was called one day because members of his family were concerned that he might have taken an overdose of pills as he was less responsive than usual and had breathing difficulties. Mr T told the ambulance crew that he had not done so. There is disagreement between the family and the NHS Trust as to what happened next and a lack of paperwork. The family say they were told that he was drunk.

The following day his condition had deteriorated and a further ambulance was called along with Mr T’s mental health co-ordinator. Empty pills packets were found in the house. This time he was taken to hospital as the ambulance crew thought he was hypoglycaemic. However he went on to suffer two cardiac arrests and subsequently died of pneumonia.

Sharon Allison comments: “It is likely that Mr T would still be alive if the first ambulance crew to see him had conducted more rigorous tests and then insisted on taking him to hospital as a result. The Trust’s own internal incident report found failures in his care. It is our hope, and that of his family, that bringing this claim will help to prevent this sort of incident occurring again.”