Sudden death of Mother shortly after visiting Chiropractor - What to do?

[JonP]

Hello
I am looking for advice following the sudden death of my mother following a visit to a local Chiropractor.

1. My mother had back pain and sought the services of a professional private Chiropractor.
2. Following the visit to the Chiropractor my mother was immobilized at home and in greater pain.
3. After 3 days the pain became unbearable and an ambulance was called. Mother was taken to A&E.
4. A&E perform an X-Ray and determine her back is broken.
5. My mother is given pain killers and discharged from hospital still in considerable pain and now with a diagnosed broken back.
6. After 5 days of continued pain and immobilized at home my mothers pain moved elsewhere in her body and she became confused. An ambulance was called and mother was taken to A&E again.
7. Mother is diagnosed with an infection at A&E, Mother is given antibiotics and admitted to hospital.
8. Next day my mother suffers a serious stroke (from the infection) and is placed in end of life care.
9. Sadly Mother dies a few days later and we are all in disbelief over whats happened so quickly.

The doctors say the death was caused by the infection that resulted from her broken back.
The doctors say it is standard practice to discharge someone from hospital after a diagnosis of a broken back.
The doctors say it is impossible from the X-Ray to determine when the back was broken (e.g. did the Chiropractor break it).

We've just discovered today that my Mother had an X-Ray taken by the Chiropractor before she was treated.

Here are my questions to anyone who might be able to advise::

1. Does anyone know if its medically acceptable to discharge someone from A&E in considerable pain after they diagnose a broken back? The doctors say that is standard practice.

2. How can (or should we) legally try to obtain my mothers X-Ray from the Chiropractor? That X-Ray needs to be looked at by someone competent and thencompared to the A&E X-Ray taken shortly after the Chiropractor visit.

If the Chiropractor X-Ray shows a broken back should she have been treated? My Mother said she was in so much pain at the Chiropractor and recalled to us how pleased the Chiropractor was after hearing a loud "click" saying "that was what I was hoping to hear". If the X-Ray doesn't show a broken back could that suggest the Chiropractor may have broken her back?.

I have no idea if a professional Chiropractor will release the X-Ray of my mothers back? We may need to tell them of her death in order to obtain the X-Ray? I guess they will then want to see proof of death? Once they see the death certificate they will see the cause of death. I don't know what the Chiropractor will do if they foresee a professional negligence accusation coming?


Sorry for such a long post.
Any advice would be very much appreciated

[dslippy]

I am very sorry that you find yourself in this situation.
This is however relatively simple. Any kind of decision and consequent action must be based upon considerable ivestigation amd expert assessment.
Bear in mind that actionss in such situations can lead (according to circumstances) to insultingly low awards of damages.
Take this immediately to a Professional (Medical) Negligence solicitor who can take this on a nop win no fee basis. They will make a brutal assessment. If your possible claim has real value, they will take it an no immediate risk, and get the best possible result.
If the possible claim is either risky and or of no substantial valkue, they will not take it.
That will be the best assessment you can get. You may have to pay out for an initial pre-assessment, but this system works. If you cannot get help it is because you do not have a good claim.

Back to your original post.
'Broken back' as a phrase does not mean anything specific enough to be helpful.
The x-ray is available as part of pre-action discovery
Start thinking about who will take out a grant in the estate

[JonP]

Thank you DSLIPPY.

Obtaining some specialist advice does sound like the right approach compared to DIY.

The doctors at hospital explained a lot. They said the X-Ray taken at A&E showed that my mothers 3rd vertebrae up was fractured.

The official cause of death is quite a lot of medical terminology (attached). Google did help us to understand some of this.

Thank you again for your kind words and help. It is very much appreciated.

[Getitdone]

I'm wondering how you got on with your mother's sad and concerning case?
Aside from the Chiropractor's possible contribution to your mother's fractures,
4. A&E perform an X-Ray and determine her back is broken. 5. My mother is given pain killers and discharged from hospital still in considerable pain and now with a diagnosed broken back.
6. After 5 days of continued pain and immobilized at home my mothers pain moved elsewhere in her body and she became confused. An ambulance was called and mother was taken to A&E again.
7. Mother is diagnosed with an infection at A&E, Mother is given antibiotics and admitted to hospital.

1.Considering your mother had pain before she visited the chiropractor, were there signs that there was already an infection present when she was diagnosed with the vertebral fractures in A/E? ie did she have a temperature, what did blood tests show, were there other X ray signs that weren't picked up on? Often in A/ E the Drs look at X-Rays , but the radiologist ( Dr who specialises in X rays ) doesn't write a formal report till several days or weeks afterwards.
Was the fracture more of a coincidental finding rather than the cause of the back pain?
If there was a suspicion of infection at that A/E visit then treatment with antibiotics at that point may have lead to a different outcome.


2. From the information on the death certificate it sounds like your mother had septicaemia . That's what the bacteraemia is that they mention on the death certificate , but note that unlike the endocarditis , they don't say it was clinically diagnosed. If they took blood for cultures for bacteria, it takes about 24 hrs for the results to come back, but sepsis can be clinically diagnosed .
Did A/E diagnose sepsis and follow the hospital protocol ?
There would probably have been signs of endocarditis in A/E ( you says the pain had moved elsewhere, but don't say if she had chest pain, abnormal sounds when a Dr listened to her chest)
The protocol would probably include consulting a microbiologist, a cardiologist ( if they suspected bacterial endocarditis) , giving Intravenous antibiotics and a being placed in a bed in an appropriate area of the hospital eg a cardiac ward or High dependency unit depending on how sick she was ,rather than a general medical ward.