NHS 24 helpline sued over death

Steven Wiseman was a father of two children

A woman is suing the NHS 24 helpline service for £750,000 over the death of her partner, BBC Scotland has learned.

Father-of-two Steven Wiseman died in December 2004 at the age of 30 after complaining of flu-like symptoms.

His partner Kerry Robertson, from Laurencekirk in Aberdeenshire, is now seeking compensation.

It is thought to be the first time legal action has been taken against NHS 24, which said the service had improved since Mr Wiseman's death.

NHS 24 said it had been in contact with Ms Robertson's legal team but could not comment further on the action as it was now a matter of legal process.

Toxic shock

Ms Robertson called NHS 24 about Mr Wiseman three times over three days before his death.

She said she was told that it sounded like he had flu.

At one point Mr Wiseman had to crawl in pain from his sickbed to answer questions over the phone.

He later died in hospital from toxic shock.

Kerry Robertson gave evidence at the fatal accident inquiry

Ms Robertson was one of the people to give evidence at a lengthy joint fatal accident inquiry in Aberdeen, which also examined the death of Aberdeen teenager Shomi Miah.

The 17-year-old had been told by nurse advisers to take paracetamol for flu-like symptoms, but later died from meningitis.

Sheriff James Tierney said the system had failed Mr Wiseman and Ms Miah by not identifying their life-threatening conditions.

Ms Robertson told BBC Scotland: "Money's not important although it's going to help the kids.

"It's just the fact that we haven't had an acknowledgement from NHS 24 to say that they were in the right or the wrong and we've had no apologies.

"And they've stated that they don't want to make an apology because they think that they haven't done anything wrong."

Next move

An NHS 24 spokeswoman said: "NHS 24 has been in correspondence with Miss Robertson's legal team and as this is now a matter for legal process we are unable to comment further at this time."

Ms Miah's family is also said to be considering legal action.

Her brother, Khalis, 29, said: "We are talking to our lawyers and discussing our next move.

"We've tried to approach NHS 24, but they're not responding. It's absolutely disappointing."