Claim helps family understand how father’s death could have been prevented

A husband and father who had previously undergone a kidney transplant was living with his wife and young daughter when his health began to deteriorate. Over several months, he developed increasingly worrying symptoms. Despite repeatedly seeking medical help, the seriousness of his condition was not identified in time.

In December 2018, the man, referred to as Mr X to protect his family’s privacy, visited his GP after experiencing neck pain, migraines, weakness and shortness of breath. Over the following months, he developed further symptoms including rashes, muscle and back pain, severe tiredness, coughing and weight loss.

His medical history made him particularly vulnerable to infection. Following a kidney transplant, Mr X was taking immunosuppressant medication to prevent his body rejecting the donated organ. Regular blood tests, scans and other investigations were carried out as his health worsened.

By February 2019, Mr X was increasingly breathless and unwell. After developing chest pain and becoming incapacitated by his symptoms, his wife called NHS 111. An ambulance was dispatched and a paramedic and emergency care assistant assessed him at home.

Despite observations showing warning signs of sepsis, Mr X was not taken to hospital. Instead, he was advised to attend a planned hospital appointment for blood tests and a chest X-ray. The X-ray subsequently indicated an infection and antibiotics were prescribed, but they could not be collected until the following day.

Mr X’s condition deteriorated rapidly. In the early hours of the morning, he suffered a cardiac arrest. His wife and the emergency services attempted CPR and advanced life support, but he died.

A post-mortem later found that he had died from sepsis and lobar pneumonia. His wife was left grieving her husband while caring for their young daughter and trying to understand whether more could have been done to save him.

The family turned to Slater and Gordon, a member firm of the Consumer Legal Association (CLA), for help finding answers. Associate clinical negligence specialist Nicole Jackson worked with the family and obtained expert medical evidence, alongside medical records and NHS 111 recordings, to establish what had happened in the days leading up to Mr X’s death.

The investigation found that Mr X should have been taken to hospital when the ambulance crew first attended him. His symptoms indicated a serious infection and, because of his kidney transplant and immunosuppressant medication, he faced an increased risk. Expert evidence concluded that, had he been admitted and treated for sepsis at that stage, he would have survived.

Slater and Gordon pursued the claim on behalf of the family and secured a £235,000 settlement, including a ring-fenced sum for Mr X’s daughter.

No financial settlement can replace a husband or father. For Mr X’s family, however, specialist legal representation helped establish what should have happened, provided answers about a death that could have been avoided and secured financial support for the family he left behind.