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ONE PAPER ... ALL THE NEWS from Dewsbury, Batley, Ossett, Mirfield, Liversedge, Birstall, Heckmondwike, Cleckheaton & Spen Valley
A look back at 16 years of The Press
Friday March 30, 2018
12 MONTHS GUARANTEE
No. 835
Residents want action over dealers
50p
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CATALOGUE OF ERRORS
“Only when a tragedy such as this happens to you, do you truly realise that the organisations involved aren’t interested, mum was just another statistic to them.” By Zoë Shackleton News Reporter zoe@thepressnews.co.uk
EXCLUSIVE A GRIEVING SON whose mother died from sepsis has hit out at medical professionals for a “catalogue of errors” leading up to her death. Russell Todd’s mother Jeanne cut her leg in an accident in September 2016 and died two months later due to an infection. Mr Todd says that the care she received was “a mess from beginning to end” and is fighting to ensure that other patients don’t suffer in the same way.
Errors involving district nurses, a local pharmacy, a GP and Dewsbury District Hospital have left the Todd family’s trust in the medical system in tatters. Potentially beneficial bandages were sent to the wrong address, her GP prescribed a powerful opiate over the phone without an examination, hospital staff confused Mrs Todd with another patient and nurses arrived at her home to treat her even after she had passed away. The 79-year-old mother-of-two, of Hanging Heaton, sustained a cut to her left shin and was initially cared for by the family’s doctor, Dr Ajit Mehrotra, at Windsor Medical Centre in Dewsbury, but the GP died two weeks later.
Russell Todd, Jeanne’s son Dr Sriram Vadlamani then took over Mrs Todd’s care before she was referred to Locala district nurses, who visited her at home. At that point, things started to
Jeanne Todd, who died aged 79
go wrong for Mrs Todd. Her wound wept profusely to the point that her slipper filled with fluid. The nurses put in a prescription with Pharmacy D, in Westtown, for a special absorbant dressing for Mrs Todd’s leg – but she never received it. Instead, Mr Todd’s aunt, who shared a similar name with Mrs Todd and had died from cancer just a few months earlier, was being sent the prescribed bandages at an address nearby – much to Mr Todd’s uncle’s confusion. “Uncle Herbert was still grieving for his wife Jean who had died a few months earlier from cancer and he started getting these dressings delivered to the house,” said Mr Todd, 47.
“He assumed that the dressings were meant for his late wife and thought ‘if you can’t get your act together then they can pile up here’. Obviously my dad didn’t think to discuss with Herbert the fact that they were waiting for dressings for my mum. “It eventually came to light that the dressings were there for my mum and there were two pharmacists within the pharmacy that made the mistake. “It was admitted at the inquest they hadn’t followed the right procedures. What happens if it’s medication of a dangerous type that goes to an elderly person who lives on their own?”
Continued on page 4
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