Hospital 'failed' woman patient

Doctors initially thought Mrs Benson had a chest infection

System failures at a hospital in Northamptonshire contributed to the death of a 29-year-old woman, a coroner has ruled.

Six years ago Romanian Mady Benson contracted a mystery illness and was taken to Kettering General Hospital where she died three days later.

There had been problems with patient observations, the inquest was told.

A spokesman for the hospital said its systems had been improved since the death and procedures would be reviewed.

The inquest, held at Rushden and Diamonds Football Club, heard that on 20 November 2002, Mrs Benson was admitted to the hospital suffering from a fever, and refusing to drink.

Doctors thought it was a chest infection, but the next day she had a high fever and her blood oxygen levels were falling.

Kettering General Hospital said its systems had improved since Mrs Benson's death

Doctors and nurses failed to act, with one admitting he was simply out of his depth, the inquest was told.

By the next morning she was "desperately ill" and at lunchtime she died.

Deputy Coroner Tom Osbourne told the inquest: "Mrs Benson's death was contributed to by a failure of the system for recording, reporting and acting upon patient observations.

"It was a serious system failure which, I believe, contributed to Mrs Benson's death."

He said he would be sending a copy of his report to the Department for Health.

Mrs Benson's husband Andrew said: "Blaming people is not going to really help me in the future, I can only become bitter and more upset.

"I have got to accept it and if there are improvements to the NHS then I think that helps everybody."