600,000 pounds compensation for a man whose wife died in a NHS hospital

The husband of a woman who died from blood poisoning six days after giving birth to their second child received 600,000 pounds in compensation yesterday after two NHS trusts apologised for a series of blunders that led to her death. Ben Palmer's wife, Jessica, was 34 when she suffered a cardiac arrest in the operating theatre, leaving him to bring up their two children, Harry and Emily, now five and two.

Mrs Palmer, a personal assistant to the Conservative MP Peter Lilley, was discharged from Kingston Hospital in Surrey the day after she gave birth, even though she had low blood pressure, a fast pulse and a high temperature - all signs of infection. As her condition deteriorated and she developed a red patch across her stomach, the couple contacted Mrs Palmer's GP, who prescribed painkillers for back pain, and her midwife, but she was not readmitted to hospital until five days later. She died the next day from multiple organ failure caused by streptococcal septicaemia.

At the inquest into her death, a community midwife from St George's Hospital in Tooting, south-west London, admitted that she had made a "gross mistake" in not referring Mrs Palmer to a doctor earlier. The deputy coroner for West London concluded that Mrs Palmer's death could have been avoided had she been sent back to hospital earlier, but she stopped short of formally finding neglect. She recorded a verdict of natural causes.

The final settlement figure of 600,000 against Kingston Hospital NHS Trust and St George's Healthcare NHS Trust, which both accepted liability, includes the provision of 23,667 pounds each to Harry and Emily. Robert Wilson, solicitor for the trusts, said at the High Court yesterday that both trusts expressed their "sincere apologies" to Mr Palmer and the family for "the shortcomings in care" which led to the death of Mrs Palmer.

"Inevitably, this has led to a great deal of soul-searching and I would particularly like to convey the profound regret of all the clinicians and staff involved in her care," he said. "Of course, they recognise that the family has to live with the consequences for the rest of their lives and an apology is of scant help in these circumstances, but it is sincerely offered."

After the hearing, Mr Palmer, 36, called on the Government to improve maternity services to prevent such a tragedy happening again. "This should never have happened," he said. "My son cries in my arms at night because he misses his mother, my daughter cries in sympathy and because she never knew her mother. I cry for them both, for the loss of their mother, my wife and best friend, and for the joys of motherhood that Jessica has been denied. "With mothering Sunday coming up this weekend, I would like the health secretary to try explaining to my children why Jessica isn't going to tuck them up in bed tonight."

Claire Fazan, his solicitor, from Irwin Mitchell, said: "Each stage of Jessica's care was provided by someone different. Her ante-natal care was at one hospital, her delivery was at another, the community midwife was from another trust and the health visitor she never lived to see was from yet another trust. Jessica's case highlights the need for extra resources and continuity of care for mothers." Mr Lilley said yesterday: "Jessica was simply one of the most delightful people you could know."

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Australia: Your bureaucrats will protect you -- NOT

Doctors have warned a proposed Tasmanian law to relax the registration of overseas-trained specialists could lead to unsafe treatment and even death. The Medical Council of Tasmania said the amendment to the Medical Practitioners Registration Act, which passed the Upper House last year, would lower standards nationally. President Mike Hodgson said the amendment would allow up to 10 overseas-trained specialists working in the state to apply for unconditional registration without assessment of their skills or qualifications. [Extraordinary!]

"We don't know that these individuals are safe," he said. "This amendment is not in the interests of public safety. "It will not allow the Medical Council to apply conditions on the registration of such practitioners even if they are performing poorly or have health problems. "It would even allow an overseas-trained specialist who was suspended, for whatever reason, to apply for unconditional registration." Asked what the impact of the Bill could be, he said: "What happened with Dr (Jayant) Patel." Dr Patel, an Indian-trained doctor dubbed Dr Death, is alleged to have caused a number of deaths at Bundaberg hospital where he was director of surgery.

Dr Hodgson said the amendment, which still needs to pass the Lower House again to become law, would allow specialists to apply for registration without assessment. He said the amendment would also remove the Medical Council's ability to control which specialties the doctors worked. It would also allow the doctors to use their unconditional registration to practice anywhere in Australia. "Under the mutual recognition, they can practice in any other state or territory in Australia, so we are imposing our lesser standards," he said. "It is not consistent with the rest of the country."

The Medical Council can now impose conditions on doctors' registrations to ban them from certain tasks, specialities or working without supervision. It also co-ordinates the assessment of doctors' skills and qualifications, which Dr Hodgson said varied greatly between countries.

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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL hospitals and health insurance schemes should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the very poor and minimal regulation. Both Australia and Sweden have large private sector health systems with government reimbursement for privately-provided services so can a purely private system with some level of government reimbursement or insurance for the poor be so hard to do?

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