Telford family’s anger over heart attack death
A great-grandfather who died after suffering a heart attack could have survived had doctors at Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital not taken six-and-a-half hours to treat him, a coroner has ruled.
The family of Telford man John Clifford Gough said he had been ‘let down’ by the hospital and are now considering pursuing a case for compensation against Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust.
An inquest at Telford Magistrates Court yesterday heard the 78-year-old was admitted to the accident and emergency department by ambulance on March 5 on the advice of his GP.
Dr Richard Power, of Charlton Medical Centre in Lion Street, Oakengates, told the inquest he became worried after Mr Gough complained of dizziness, pain in his left arm and breathlessness. The father-of-two, arrived at the hospital just before 4.45pm.
He was not moved on to a ward until after 7pm and not prescribed treatment by a doctor until after 11pm.
Mr Gough, of Willows Road, Oakengates, started having difficulty breathing just before midnight and died after suffering a heart attack a couple of hours later, the hearing was told.
Thomas Wood, a nurse in the accident and emergency department at the hospital, said the former British Rail worker and steam train enthusiast had shown no sign of being in any pain.
But experienced cardiologist Dr Mary Heber said it should have been spotted earlier that Mr Gough was suffering from heart failure.
She said if he had been given the drug furosemide shortly after arriving at hospital it would have eased his breathing and could have helped him survive.
Margaret Gough, Mr Gough’s wife of 53 years, said: “When he needed them, they let him down.”
Passing a narrative verdict, coroner for Telford & Wrekin John Ellery said: “Early administration of furosemide may have altered the outcome.”