Doctor’s apology following heart patient’s death at Warwick Hospital

An inquest held in Leamington last Friday into the death of 75-year-old Christopher Bennett, of Wroxhall, found that he died of natural causes.

But his family, who are not disputing the coroner’s verdict, are pursuing a complaints procedure with South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, as they remain unhappy about the way he was treated there.

The inquest, which was held at Warwickshire Justice Centre, heard from Dr Suresh Gurijala, a consultant specialising in elderly care who treated Mr Bennett before his death on October 3 from broncho-pneumonia.

Dr Gurijala explained that Mr Bennett had been transferred to Warwick Hospital in August after undergoing major heart surgery at the University Hospital in Coventry in July. He was then transferred again to the Rehabilitation Hospital in Leamington - but on September 26, he became unwell and was moved back to Warwick five days later.

It was then found that he had septicemia and pneumonia and he died two days later.

Dr Gurijala said: “In my view, Mr Bennett was treated appropriately with the antibiotics. Because of his poor heart function, he could not respond and sadly he passed away.”

Mr Bennett’s daughter Fiona Bennett told the inquest that she and her family had been told on October 1 that there was ‘nothing much to worry about’.

Dr Gurijala said: “I am afraid there was a miscommunication because everything happened so quickly. I must apologise that there was not much communication between the doctors and the family.”

Assistant deputy coroner Zafar Siddique gave a verdict of death by natural causes, but he also said to Mr Bennett’s family: “There are certainly questions you need to raise with the trust.”

Speaking after the hearing, Miss Bennett said: “We were quite happy with what the coroner decided, but we have got ongoing queries with the hospital. We do feel that the hospital dealt with my dad wrongly.”

A spokeswoman for the hospital trust said: “We would like to offer our condolences to the family of Mr Bennett. The trust is continuing to work directly with Mr Bennett’s family to understand how we could have improved communications during this difficult time.”