Hospital errors 'have taken my wonderful wife away from us'

 
“Neglect”: Pc Diane Patt lost five litres of blood after giving birth
Diane Patt A POLICEWOMAN who died in childbirth after suffering a massive haemorrhage had survived a brutal attack at the hands of her policeman ex-boyfriend died six years earlier. Internet Facebook Grab, Permission Not Given to Use This Picture. REF: Ni
Anna Dubuis11 December 2013

The husband of a police officer who died hours after giving birth today said the hospital must “learn from its mistakes” following a damning inquest verdict.

Pc Diane Patt, 34, died when surgeons failed to replace five litres of blood lost in “torrential bleeding” after the birth of her second child at Colchester General Hospital.

Her husband Jason, a sergeant major in the Army, said: “My family has been devastated by the errors made by the hospital which have taken a wonderful mother and wife away from us.

“The coroner identified a succession of very serious failings in Diane’s care but my family will now have to deal with the consequences. I can only hope that the hospital learns from its mistakes so that the same does not happen to someone else.”

Coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray at Chelmsford coroner’s court recorded a narrative verdict and criticised “an unfortunate degree of chaos and confusion” during the delivery which contributed to Mrs Patt’s death on 22 September, 2011.

She said: “There were very serious failings in the care Mrs Patt received at Colchester Hospital. With appropriate and timely treatment she might have survived. Mrs Patt’s death was contributed to by neglect.”

Staff at Colchester General Hospital admitted replacing only about two litres of the blood lost, triggering a fatal cardiac arrest.

On-call consultant Professor Mohammed Khaled told the inquest if Pc Patt had been given blood “she would still be with us”.

The hospital trust said in a statement: “Our maternity and anaesthetic services have reviewed their processes in enormous detail to make sure that everything possible is being implemented to eliminate the risk of this happening again.”

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