'If I die, blame hospital', says retired GP Sandy

RETIRED GP Sandy Jordan has taken the extraordinary step of instructing lawyers to demand the West Somerset Coroner holds a full inquest in the event of his untimely death.
The move reflects the concern held by Dr Jordan over his treatment by medical staff as a patient in Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton, going back over 18 months.
Dr Jordan, aged 78, told The Crier: “Every year, the British Medical Association say about 1,100 people die in hospital because of the wrong treatments - and I do not want to be one of them.
“It is really quite frightening.”
Dr Jordan, who retired from general practice in Minehead in 1996 after 40 years as a GP and who lives in Alcombe, Minehead, has been involved in an on-going dispute with the management of the hospital since being treated for a broken hip in December, 2005 and which has left him with anaemia.
He has demanded an apology from acting chief executive Dr Peter Cavanagh and wants amendments made to his medical records.
Dr Jordan fears a note presently included in his medical records could lead an unsuspecting doctor to cause his death by applying the wrong treatment.
The issue concerns a reaction to the blood thinning drug Heparin which he received in December, 2005, while recovering from a broken right hip.
Dr Jordan said he was kept on an intravenous infusion of Heparin for 18 days despite his protests and at a level twice as high as necessary.
He then suffered a severe skin rash which medical staff told him was shingles but he believed was an allergic reaction to the Heparin.
Dr Jordan said eventually one doctor researched the problem and agreed that he was sensitive to Heparin and made a note in his records.
Then, in July of last year, Dr Jordan fell and broke his other hip and found himself back in Musgrove Park Hospital, where he was given a synthetic form of Heparin called Fondaparinux despite his protests.
Doctors told him there was nothing in his records to indicate a problem with Heparin, despite the incident which occurred eight months earlier.
Consequently, Dr Jordan said he suffered prolonged internal bleeding, became jaundiced, his liver was damaged, and the stress also caused heart complications because his Pacemaker began to fail.
He was reduced to a state close to death and needed 11 pints of blood in transfusions in a period of eight days.
He said: “Unbeknown to me, my family were saying ‘good bye’ to me because I was so ill. My son-in-law said I looked like a corpse. I did not get back to normal until nearly Christmas.”
Dr Jordan later discovered that despite being in a confused state he argued against being given Heparin but doctors were about to use it when he was saved by a stroke of luck.
A duty pharmacist at the time had decided to seek advice and spoke on the telephone with a more senior colleague who cautioned against Heparin and advised Wolfarin instead.
Following the incident, Dr Jordan complained to Dr Cavanagh and eventually he was allowed to see his medical records – and was shocked at what he found.
He said: “There was nothing about sensitivity to Heparin and Fondaparinux, and also the medical notes had gone, there were only the nursing notes - my notes had been stripped.”
Dr Jordan said the discharge notes made no mention of how he had been seriously ill and needed blood transfusions – and he also discovered matters were even worse than he thought, as a written note said Heparin could be safely given if used with Piriton.
“I said if another houseman read that, I could be killed,” he said. “Then they asked me to write my own discharge notes.”
Dr Jordan said he prepared his own summary containing the Heparin sensitivity and the skin rash incident, but the hospital refused to accept them even after about four re-drafts.
He said: “They will not yield an inch. The hospital will not admit that I had this skin rash, even now.”
Dr Jordan said he had been advised by the hospital to go through the official complaints procedure if he remained unhappy.
But he said: “All I want is an honest answer and my notes properly written. They think if they apologise I will be in for litigation, but I am not looking to sue them, I am doing this to help my fellow man.
“My life is now precariously balanced. I am passing the papers to my solicitor, who has been instructed to request HM Coroner to have a full inquiry into the conduct of my case at Musgrove Park Hospital between December, 2005, and this moment of time, should I die.”
A statement issued to The Crier by Taunton and Somerset NHS Trust, which runs Musgrove Park Hospital, confirmed Dr Jordan first contacted the trust in relation to his latest complaint, in September, 2006.
The trust said: “He has received both formal written responses from, and has had discussions with the trust’s acting chief executive and the acting medical director.
“The trust takes all complaints very seriously and has robust complaint procedures in place, which aim to resolve the anxieties of any patients, relatives, carers, or visitors of the trust.
“The trust has advised Dr Jordan, should he wish to take his complaint further, of the second stage of the complaints procedure, which involves an independent review undertaken by the Healthcare Commission.”

• Dr Sandy Jordan is pictured in the garden of his Alcombe home with his notes. Photo by Mark the Photographer, ref TCP0545. Order image reprints online at www.tcpbymtp.co.uk.