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Selected Investigations Completed April - September 1998 > Part I, Case no. E.1476/97-98
Matters considered: Insufficient attention paid to medical history and physical signs; failure to perform endoscopy.
Complaint against:
South Kent Hospitals NHS Trust
Summary of case
In February 1997 Mr K was admitted to William Harvey Hospital, Ashford, with severe abdominal pain. The family understood that he needed an endoscopy (an internal examination of the upper part of the digestive system) but that was not done, although other tests were carried out. After eight days Mr K underwent emergency surgery for a perforated ulcer from which he did not recover. After death he was found to have had cancer which had perforated the stomach wall. The family considered that his condition should have been diagnosed sooner.
Findings
The Ombudsman found that although three main diagnoses were considered—peptic ulcer, inflammation of the pancreas and inflammation of the gallbladder—suitable treatment for ulceration had been continued throughout. After consulting his clinical assessors, the Ombudsman found that sufficient attention had been given to Mr K's medical history and symptoms and that an endoscopy could have been dangerous, possibly causing perforation of an ulcer, and peritonitis, if that had not already occurred. He did not uphold the complaint.
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