05/02/2014

Coroner blames Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Trust for avoidable death

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At the conclusion of a two day inquest into the death of Olufunke Kayoma the Coroner recorded a narrative verdict describing the delay in treatment for a partially obstructed airway since she was urgently referred by her GP as 'unacceptable' and the decision to discharge her from hospital which resulted in her death in the early hours of the following morning as 'inappropriate'. Before setting out her narrative of events in her conclusion she stated that the deceased had died as a result of a number of omissions and failures by the hospital. She rejected the conclusions of the hospitals own high level review into the death that due to the longstanding nature of her airway obstruction discharge had been appropriate, concluding that her discharge with an airway that was 90% obstructed by a goitre was inherently unsafe. She also rejected submissions from the Trust that the form of her judgment on the evidence breached the requirement not to appear to determine civil or criminal liability. The Coroner identified a series of failures of communication within the hospital and the way it managed patients with this kind of tracheal stenosis. She found that efforts by the deceased’s husband to highlight her deteriorating state had not been properly heeded.

David Rivers represented the family throughout instructed by Jennifer Cawthorne of Irwin Mitchell Solicitors.

DAVID,RIVERS,KAYOMA,CORONER,INQUEST,DEATH,HOSPITAL

At the conclusion of a two day inquest into the death of Olufunke Kayoma the Coroner recorded a narrative verdict describing the delay in treatment for a partially obstructed airway since she was urgently referred by her GP as 'unacceptable' and the decision to discharge her from hospital which resulted in her death in the early hours of the following morning as 'inappropriate'.