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Friday, 24 March 2006, 18:08 GMT

Coroner critical of allergy check

A coroner has criticised a surgeon who gave a Bradford woman penicillin despite her being allergic to the drug.

John Griffith told the inquest into the death of 38-year-old Teresa Innes it was "common practice" not to check if patients had allergies.

Bradford Coroner Roger Whittaker said he would write to the Royal College of Surgeons expressing his concern.

He recorded a narrative verdict on Ms Innes who died two years after falling into a coma after being given the drug.

A narrative verdict is used when a chain of events has led to a person's death.

Minor operation

The coroner heard Ms Innes had worn a wristband warning doctors of her allergy as she went for an operation

She died in August 2003 after a judge gave permission for the Bradford Royal Infirmary to end artificial feeding.

She had been due to have a minor operation on an infected insect bite on her leg.

The inquest heard how consultant general surgeon John Griffith recommended that Ms Innes, of Turnhill Grove, Bradford, was given the drug without asking whether she was allergic to penicillin - a practice he said was routine.

'Evade responsibility'

He said he was also concerned by Mr Griffith's claim that he was giving a "recommendation for a prescription of a drug, not prescribing it."

Mr Whittaker said of Mr Griffith: "He does himself little credit by that attempt to evade responsibility."

The four-day inquest heard Ms Innes arrived at the hospital with a warning letter from her GP and told four members of staff about her allergy.

The mother-of-one had suffered an earlier anaphylactic reaction to penicillin in 1997, from which she took two days to recover.

Before giving a narrative verdict, Mr Whittaker said: "The systems in place in September 2001 were not responsible for the tragedy, rather that Teresa's death was due to a variety of compounding errors."




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Related to this story:
Mother's drug allergy not checked (22 Mar 06 |  Bradford )
Woman told doctor of drug allergy (20 Mar 06 |  England )

RELATED INTERNET LINKS:
Bradford Royal Infirmary
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