Mother's treatment 'unacceptable'

Sheila Maguire was allowed to discharge herself

The son of a woman who died after inadequate care at Belfast City Hospital has said her treatment was "totally unacceptable".

The care Sheila Maguire, 63, received was criticised by the Northern Ireland Ombudsman Tom Frawley as "suggestive of professional incompetence".

She was very ill when moved from the Erne in December 2001, but was allowed to discharge herself two days later.

Mrs Maguire's son, John, said the family had trusted the health system.

"We, the family, always knew that our mum's case was handled very poorly, unprofessionally and totally unacceptable," he said.

The Belfast Health and Social Care Trust said it fully accepted the ombudsman's findings.

After her discharge Mr Maguire took his mother back to accident and emergency because she was in severe pain and her left leg was extremely swollen.

She was not admitted despite being exceptionally weak and not fit to travel home, said the ombudsman.

The following day she was taken back to the hospital, seen by the same doctor and admitted.

Her condition was monitored for several days by medical staff concerned about deep vein thrombosis in the woman's left leg - before a procedure was carried out after five days.

Mrs Maguire died 48 hours later from suspected pulmonary embolism.

Mr Frawley said the decision not to admit her to BCH on 15 December 2001 "was a gross error of judgement which I regarded as serious maladministration".

"The failure of the attending doctor to make proper records compounded the level of maladministration," he added.

The fact that she was then admitted the following day confirmed his view the earlier decision was manifestly wrong and "suggestive of professional incompetence."

The ombudsman recommended the chief executive of the hospital trust issue a detailed letter of apology and produce an evaluation report on the concerns and criticisms identified.