My Dad died due to lack of care - legal advice needed please

[spareroomsleeper]

Today we found out after nearly six
Months that our Dad died due to lack of care on behalf of NHS.

He was admitted to a side room on a general medical ward although he was a respiratory patient, after being 'slept out' of the respiratory ward.

The medical staff and nurses on this ward assumed he was a medical patient.

His raised MEWS (modified early warning signs) were not checked on four separate occasions.

He did not have a medical review for over 7 hours, by which time his condition deteriorated and after 13 hours of being admitted to hospital, he collapsed and passed away



I am so so sad and raging inside over this letter weve just so casually received in the
Post.

What legal action can we take? How do we take this further?

[Bossybritches22]

oh Spare room how awful...what did the letter actually say?

Sounds like it raised more issues than it actually explained?

[Bossybritches22]

Just namechecked you- even more sorry for you all that this comes now, you've had enough shite over the last few days.

Is your mum up to taking this further? It's really her call

[QOD]

can you contact the coroners office? my pa in law died recently of neglect/lack of giving a shit/incompetence from a broken neck last month. they've been amazing and supportive and have all sorts of guides and booklets

sorry for your loss, the injustice makes it hard

[bemybebe]

find a good med negligence law firm to talk to - initial consult is usually free (please do not go to no win-no fee type of firms). legal expenses can be covered by the buildings/content insurance. i used these guys in the past to investigate my dh case

[QOD]

INterestingly the coroners office told us to use no win no fee as otherwise we could be looking at thousands.

[spareroomsleeper]

Thanks for the replies guys.

What is the best that will happen though?

We want to ensure this doesn't happen to anyone else.

My mum wants to take it all the way.

Bossy -no, there's not much to get out of bed for these days life is just one kick in the teeth after another.

[bemybebe]

regarding no win/no fee check your household insurances first for legal cover - then decide. if you talk to good lawyers then may give you an estimate of how much it will cost, otherwise, they may agree to partial fee. i am not involved with legal profession, so i cannot advise, but i have a bit of personal experience and home insurance cover was enough in our case.

[QOD]

We'd be having to use my mum in laws insurance legal cover - she may not have it anyway AND we are to sell the house so the insurance would stop and then what? SO yeah, could just be different in our case.
We face a 2 year legal battle/court case apparently.
Poor old guy broke his neck in a care home :( The home said he didn't fall but finally admitted he did and they used a hoist to lift him, they didn't support his neck (had ankylosing spondylitis sp) and either he broke his neck in the fall, they snapped it lifting him, the paramedics did it putting him in a chair and taking him donwstairs and taking him to hospital without any neck support, OR the hospital did it when the family raised concerns about his neck being bent at an angle to one side (had been locked chin down for 30yrs) - because the then lifted his chin, straightened his neck and collared him.
His spinal cord has been removed and sent to London for forensic pathology to see how long before death it was broken - sorry to hijack your thread!!
Awful isn't it :( On the whole, the Nhs is great, care is good blah blah but you just get one cock up that set's off a chain of events. And someone dies.

Sorry for your loss x