Blackburn coroner raps ‘chaos’ over diabetic death

[Northerner]

A CORONER has raised questions over the ‘chaotic’ treatment of a diabetic man who died from a hypoglycaemic attack.

Simon Neil Eatough, 47, died at Royal Blackburn Hospital after a period in and out of hospital.

At an inquest, Blackburn coroner Michael Singleton said he would write to the hospital about its procedures if he felt its practices were likely to cause a risk of further deaths.

Blackburn Coroner's Court heard Mr Eatough was first diagnosed with diabetes on July 23 after being admitted to hospital. The exact type had not been determined.

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.u...coroner_raps____chaos____over_diabetic_death/



Naughty stock photo of someone doing a fingerprick test using their index finger 😱

 

[robert@fm]

That picture is definitely wrong, since the person doing the prick used the pad of the finger instead of the side. 🙄 During my two admissions to hospital earlier this year, one of the nurses always did that to me — needlessly painful, especially since they use one-shot disposable prickers which are set to the maximum depth so that they always get a result. 😱

Regarding the article, I notice that this patient was discharged to the "care" of his district nurses; if the district nurses up there are anything like those in Lambeth, that explains a lot. I have just this morning thrown away a half-full vial of Insulatard which I was given on discharge, about six weeks ago, which was supposed to be for the use of the district nurses who were supposed to be coming twice a day to give me my shot; they never showed (on my previous experience, I wasn't expecting them to show), and as the vial is no use to me (I can inject myself with a syringe which has been pre-loaded with the correct dose, and primed if syringes need priming, but I don't know how to prepare the shot; my only experience is of pens), it was never touched.

 

[Redkite]

To be fair to the hospital, this man was an alcoholic. He needed intervention and support with his alcoholism to be able to manage his diabetes self-care. The hospital couldn't keep him in on a ward indefinitely.