When the patient was operated on for bladder cancer, there were also several underlying diseases. Four days later, the person had suffered from high fever and chills, low oxygenation and decreasing urine output.
The condition worsened further. An X-ray showed a hole in the intestine, yet no emergency surgery was performed. A few hours later, the patient was found lifeless. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation was started but in vain, the patient died.
Should have checked earlier
At one stage of the care, healthcare staff had detected signs of sepsis, that is, blood poisoning.
– If there had been more continuous monitoring of the patient’s condition, this could have been caught at an earlier stage, says Bengt Andersson.
How does such monitoring take place?
– You check pulse, blood pressure, oxygenation and so on. In this case, you should have seen the patient more often and established earlier that the patient was about to get really sick.
Could have survived
Region Västerbotten assesses that the patient could possibly have survived if more active measures had been taken earlier.
– The lesson is to pay more attention to early signs, especially in infectious conditions like this and serious complications after an operation, says Bengt Andersson.