TWO doctors saw an 80-year-old woman before her death but dismissed her chronic stomach pain as a tummy bug or wind, an inquest heard.
In fact Eva Bailey was suffering from a perforated gastric ulcer, which led to peritonitis, an inflammation of the stomach lining, and sepsis, a blood infection which proved fatal.
Mrs Bailey, of Oxhey Crescent, Biddulph, started suffering from constipation and lost her appetite more than a week before her death.
But an inquest at North Staffordshire Coroner's Court in Hartshill heard that she continued taking her normal medication, which included a dose of aspirin, which is likely to have caused the perforated ulcer.
The retired florist was advised by doctors to take laxatives. And when a GP visited her home on January 31, she diagnosed gastroenteritis.
When Mrs Bailey was still in agony the next day another GP came to see her and said her pain was probably caused by wind. But at 4am on February 2 the pain was so bad her family called an ambulance to take her to the University Hospital of North Staffordshire. She died at 4.45pm that day.
Her son David Bailey, of Thatcher Grove, Biddulph, said: "I am disappointed two GPs made the same mistake. She thought she had gone into hospital to have a wind issue dealt with, not to die."
Coroner Ian Smith said the doctors had made an innocent mistake based on Mrs Bailey's symptoms. He said: "I think we expect doctors to be all seeing and all knowing. You treat the most common thing first."
But he said he would write to the two doctors to let them know the family's feelings about the misdiagnosis.
He warned people not to take aspirin if they had lost their appetite as the drug erodes the stomach lining.
He recorded a verdict of death from a recognised complication of aspirin drug therapy.
source: thisisstaffordshire.co.uk
Misdiagnosis Claims
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