Diabetic engineer dies after hospital left him with gangrenous foot

61 year old diabetic father Ian Shaffer died after spending days in a hospital bed with an infected foot.

In a Daily Mail report, an inquest heard how former engineer, Mr Shaffer died of a heart attack after hospital staff left him with 'stinking gangrene' for more than a week.

Mr Shaffer was admitted to the King George Hospital in Illford to be treated for a foot ulcer in February 2012 where he was left in the medical assessment unit for six days with antibiotics.

During this time the inquest heard evidence that Mr Shaffer's foot stank of rotting flesh and that his sheets were left unchanged while he waited for his foot to be treated.  A hospital porter was even reported to have joked with the patient that he had 'flies buzzing round his feet' at the east London hospital.

When he was finally seen by a senior registrar, Mr Shaffer was transferred immediately to the nearby Queen's Hospital in Romford, Essex for urgent surgery but waited a further two days until the operation took place.

Both hospitals belong to the Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust and were put into special measures in December last year after the national NHS admitted it's leaders needed more help.

Mr Shaffer's daughter Nicole Harper read out a statement at the inquest that said 'the family had endured two years of heartache and pain waiting to find out what had happened to their loving, caring and well-humoured father, husband and best friend'.

Nicole spoke about her father "in his time of need when he was vulnerable, at the total mercy of the doctors and nurses, we felt he had no one looking after his welfare'.  'Dad was left festering, he was rife with infection and producing a foul smell from gangrene'.

Please call our solicitors if you or your family have been affected by medical negligence on 0800 567 7272 or email blvlaw@btinternet.com and one of our experienced lawyers will call you back.

BLV Law

Medical Negligence Solicitors

Stourport, Halesowen & Birmingham

Tel: 0800 567 7272