Treatment was correct despite death, inquest hears (From Bucks Free Press)

Treatment was correct despite death, inquest hears

9:32am Thursday 7th February 2013 in News By Lawrence Dunhill

HOSPITAL staff were right to administer a clot-busting drug to a stroke victim, despite the treatment being a primary factor in her death, an inquest heard.

Punjabi widow Gurcharan Kaur was rushed to Wycombe Hospital after suffering a stroke in the early hours of September 26 last year.

The 86-year-old’s condition was serious enough to warrant thrombolysis treatment to break down a blood clot in the brain, the inquest at Beaconsfield Coroner’s Court heard yesterday.

Dr Amulya Misra, a consultant at the hospital, explained how thrombolysis can lead to further problems for some patients - due to the risk of the restored blood flow damaging part of the brain which has already been damaged by the clot.

He said two out of 100 patients who received the treatment at Wycombe Hospital had died last year, and the risks were explained to Mrs Kaur’s family.

She had been severely paralysed by the stroke and not treating her could have left the Belgrave Road, Slough resident with significant weakness on the left side of her body, said Dr Misra.

Coronor Richard Hulett recorded a verdict of misadventure, saying staff had followed the correct procedure with "the best of intentions".

He added: "It was thought out and well planned...Unfortunately the outcome was not what everybody wanted."

A regional NHS shake-up in 2011 saw a hyper-acute stroke unit [HASU] created at Wycombe Hospital – where all Bucks and East Berkshire stroke patients now spend the first three days of their care.

The high volume of patients at the HASU and its concentration of specialist staff mean the speed of diagnosis and treatment has improved dramatically, which is crucial in stroke cases.

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