A SHERIFF has raised concern over the way hospital staff told a woman that her husband had died in a chance meeting in a lift.

Sheriff Kenneth Ross – who ruled that a catalogue of hospital errors contributed to the death of John Aitken – said it was inappropriate that his wife Moira found out this way.

Mr Aitken, of Annan, died as a result of a heart attack after nursing staff failed to give him oxygen as he was transferred to the intensive care unit at Dumfries and Galloway Infirmary in April 2009.

Hospital staff also failed to monitor the 56-year-old’s blood saturation levels after being instructed to do so by a senior physician.

Mr Aitken died just minutes after the move, and his wife was later told of her husband’s death as she met a doctor in the hospital lift.

In a written judgment yesterday, Sheriff Ross said: “The most significant issue in relation to other facts relevant to the circumstances of the death was the communication with Mr Aiken and his family.

“The background to that was not only the circumstances of Dr Roger Holden’s discussions about the seriousness of Mr Aitken’s condition, but also the circumstances in which his death was communicated to Mrs Aitken. That was done in a lift following a chance meeting with Dr Holden.”

A Fatal Accident Inquiry at Dumfries Sheriff Court heard Mr Aitken was admitted to hospital in September 2008 for treatment for cancer of the oesophagus.

NHS Dumfries and Galloway apologised and said measures had been put in place to tackle weaknesses.