A HEALTH board is to apologise to the family of a man left “profoundly incapacitated” due to the treatment of his condition in hospital.
The man, who has not been named, was admitted to Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin critically ill suffering from sepsis caused by a chest infection on January 16, 2015.
He had collapsed and was believed to be suffering from malnutrition when he was taken into the casualty department in Moray.
Doctors noticed that he was in a “dreadful state”. Realising his sodium levels were dangerously low and he was prescribed IV fluids to try to raise them.
However, his blood tests were not adequately monitored with long periods in between them being reviewed and the quick rise in sodium levels in his bloodstream appears to have caused a neurological condition.
The patient, known only as Mr A, remained in hospital for three months after developing a condition known as osmotic demyelination syndrome.
During this time he was treated by physiotherapists, occupational therapists and speech and language therapists.
When he left hospital he needed to walk with a stick because he has been left with balance problems and the condition had also affected his speech.
An advocacy worker lodged an official complaint about his treatment to the The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman which launched an investigation.
Ombudsman Jim Martin said: “We took independent medical advice from a consultant physician, who did not consider that Mr A’s sodium levels were adequately monitored.”
An NHS Grampian spokeswoman said: “We will apologise unreservedly to the family for the areas where our care has fallen short of the high standards we would expect.”
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