Hospital wrongly says man is dead

Confusion in the ward was the reason for the mistake

Hospital chiefs in Birmingham have apologised to a woman after wrongly telling her that her father was dead.

Previously, staff at Birmingham's City Hospital also wrongly told Christine Long that her 85-year-old father William Dooley had lung cancer and just nine months to live.

Mr Dooley was admitted to hospital with chest pains on August 8 and he went in again last week for further tests.

On Thursday last week Mrs Long was told that tests on her father had confirmed the presence of cancer.

Mrs Long telephoned the hospital later that evening to enquire about her father's condition.

She was told by staff at the hospital that her father had "passed away".

This just absolutely should not have happened and we are sorry it did

Clive Walsh, Birmingham City Hospital

Later that evening, staff called to tell Mrs Long that they had made a mistake and that her father was in fact alive and well and recovering from a bout of pneumonia.

Clive Walsh, director of operations at City Hospital, said staff had confused Mr Dooley for another patient of the same name.

"We did tell Mr Dooley's family that he had died.

"The reason why was that there was another patient with a very similar name on the same ward but that doesn't excuse it.

"I have apologised to Mr Dooley's daughter in person and this just absolutely should not have happened and we are sorry it did.

"We recognise that we have caused them a lot of unnecessary distress."

Mrs Long, 44, said the mix-up had left her shocked.

"We were all absolutely devastated. They even put me in a touch with a Macmillan nurse so that we could discuss whether to put him in a hospice or care for him at home."