The family of a woman who died after a private healthcare provider failed to transfer her to critical NHS care when she developed sepsis following surgery have spoken to BBC Panorama about their loss.
As part of a legal case, in which the family have been represented by Hudgell Solicitors, Spire Healthcare admitted that patient Nafisa Khan, 58, would not have died had she received timely critical care.
Mrs Khan underwent a planned procedure to remove her gallbladder at the Spire London East Hospital on September 4, 2021, during which she suffered a perforation to her small intestine.
The following morning she was complaining of being in pain, was sick, and had low blood oxygen levels.
Using a standard practice in which observations of a patient’s respiration rate, oxygen, blood pressure, pulse, level of consciousness or new confusion and temperature are used to assess their condition, she should have been transferred to an NHS hospital for urgent critical care.
However, this did not happen until almost 12 hours later.
Mrs Khan was admitted to the Queen’s Hospital in Romford, where she was diagnosed with sepsis secondary to perforation of her small intestine and underwent surgery to repair this.
Unfortunately, her condition was so poor that she developed multi-organ dysfunction and died after suffering two cardiac arrests the following day.
Her cause of death was recorded as multi-organ failure, resulting from sepsis following acute pancreatitis and hypertension.
Read our full article: London Spire Healthcare hospital admits failings led to death of patient who died of sepsis following surgery.
In The News: BBC