Father Dies After CT Scan Blunder

- 24 March 2009;www.bbc.co.uk

The family of a man who died after a blunder over a CT scan are calling for an investigation into what went wrong.

Peter Rose, 64, died at the Medway Maritime Hospital in Kent last July after the hospital failed to spot an obstruction in his bowel.

His daughters Tammy Reeder and Naomi Rose say he was in hospital for five days without a CT scan being done.

The hospital said it could not comment because the case was the subject of legal proceedings.

"I want to know what went wrong, because they neglected him - they didn't do enough for him," said Ms Reeder, from Rainham.

The family was told when Mr Rose was admitted that the CT scan would be done.

But by mistake, staff referred to a two-year-old CT scan instead.

'Could have operated'

Medway NHS Foundation Trust has admitted in a letter to the family's solicitor that it breached its duty of care and that Mr Rose might otherwise have survived.

"My dad was left for five days and they just didn't know what was wrong with him," said Ms Rose.

"If they had done that CT scan they could have operated and he would still be here now."

Solicitor Sarah Harman said she believed there should be a Healthcare Commission investigation into the case.

"We all make mistakes, but this was a systems failure," she said.

"It was a failure of a number of members of staff to see that over a period of five days Peter hadn't had a CT scan.

"Then the further failure was to mistakenly read a CT scan from two years earlier which of course didn't show the stomach obstruction which eventually killed him."

A spokeswoman for the NHS trust said: "We cannot discuss the case because it is currently with the NHS Litigation Authority.