Doctors missed broken leg and sent pensioner home
A pensioner died of a blood infection after breaking her leg in a fall at a care home, an inquest heard.
The break went undetected for almost a week despite her being taken into hospital, an inquest heard.
Although the coroner said he couldn't be sure how much this contributed to her death.
Margaret Hollyhead, aged 83, died at Sandwell hospital on New Year's Day. Her death came months after she had initially suffered a fall at Goldfield Extra Care Court, in Dartmouth Street, West Bromwich, an inquest at Sandwell Coroners Court heard.
Mrs Hollyhead had been taken to Sandwell Hospital with pain in her hip, but had been discharged after it was revealed her prosthetic hip was loose. She then fell in the bathroom at 5.30pm that evening.
Once she was readmitted, doctors focussed on treating her prosthetic left hip, which had become infected. They did not respond to Mrs Hollyhead's complaints of pain in her right leg until six days later. An x-ray on the right leg then took place on September 7 and revealed Mrs Hollyhead had in fact broken her leg in the fall.
Mrs Hollyhead's daughter, Susan Pace, 61, of Moore Crescent, Oldbury, spoke at her mother's inquest at Smethwick Council House. She said: "I just think if she hadn't been discharged so quickly she would have never have had that fall and we wouldn't be here." Mrs Hollyhead was fitted with a right leg brace before being discharged to Wood Green nursing home in Wednesbury for six weeks. However, no documentation was received between the hospital and the care home, so staff did not know how to look after the brace properly.
She was discharged after six weeks and returned to her sheltered accomodation.
"In my opinion she wasn't quite ready to return to independent living," said John Edwards, manager of Wood Green nursing home. Zafar Siddique, lead coroner for the Black County asked Dr Ramesh Malik, consultant at Sandwell hospital, why he thought there was a delay in x-raying the right leg and he advised policies be reviewed. Cause of death was confirmed as septicaemia due to infection in prosthetic left hip. Coroner Siddique concluded Mrs Hollyhead died by way of an accidental death. He said: "If it hadn't been for the initial fall she wouldn't have had the infection. I am concerned about the delay in the x-ray though I can't be sure how much this contributed to her death."
