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Could sudden death have been prevented?

Posted , 4 users are following.

PamL
PamL

The patient was a friend who has died. She had very recently been diagnosed with aortic stenosis. She had been discharged from hospital  with a number of outpatient appts. and was expecting to have heart surgery but the date had not been fixed. Her flat was on the first and second floor. Due to the diuretics she had to visit the toilet often whcih meant a rather tiring trip upstairs. She tired quickly and got out of breath fast...but wanted to, and did, go for short walks outdoors with support. She died sitting in a chair at home after having had a bath. Could this have been prevented with better advice?

1 like, 6 replies

6 Replies

  • Guest
    Guest PamL

    Posted

    Sorry to hear about the loss of your friend neutral​ Could this have been prevented with better advice?​ Maybe,, depends neutral
  • Sunshineray
    Sunshineray PamL

    Posted

    I am so sorry for your loss. Please don't blame yourself as you look to figure what else could have been done. If the doctors sent her home than they did not think that there was a good chance of something like this happening. What was determined to be the cause of death? Given your friends history she may have died from a heart attack. Women are know to have very mild symptoms and are less likely to seek help due to the uncharacteristic symptoms. If it was a heart attack you can take comfort in knowing that your friend probably went quickly and was not suffering in pain. The best thing you can do for her now if check your own risk factors and live your life to the fullest. My sympathies dear.
    • PamL
      PamL Sunshineray

      Posted

      Thank you, Sunshineray. it had not occured to me to blame myself....it certainly was not my fault. What I had wondered was wheteher her family could or should be pressing the hospital to have a good look at their decision to learn whatever lessons could be learned.
    • Sunshineray
      Sunshineray PamL

      Posted

      I am relived that you are dealing with your grief in a healthy way. Grief is a very personal experience and sometimes people get stuck trying to see what they could have done to prevent the death. I can see that you care greatly for your late friend and I was worried for you. I hope her family requested an autopsy to be preformed. Her family should contact her doctor and request to have the results reviewed with the doctor. Her physicians need to be informed about the death so they can learn from his untimely death and use this experience as they continue their practices. Some of her family might even want to seek the council of a malpractice lawyer.
    • PamL
      PamL Sunshineray

      Posted

      You know this is in the UK where things are a bit different...but she was a great campaigner and would have wanted to know that the health service was doing all it could to learn to protect others even if too late for her.. We are having a bit of a battle to keep it funtioning well at a time when the Govt is not putting enough money in...It does take a lot of money for a variety of reasons...
  • PamL
    PamL

    Posted

    Also we have now heard more via other friends...she had told the hospital that she had a commode so she wouldn't have to keep going up the stairs...but she never actually used it....also the aortic stenosis diagnosis was made quite along time back but was only really symptomatic in recent months.
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