A Swanley man is "lucky to be alive" after being discharged from Darent Valley Hospital with someone else's medication - leaving his teenage carer too scared to give him his pills.
Ian Mclean, 49, was admitted to Darent Valley in April after falling into a diabetic coma.
Following a five-day stay at the hospital in Darenth Wood Road the Juniper Walk resident was sent home with sodium tablets belonging to somebody else instead of tablets to help ease severe pain in his legs caused by Type One Diabetes.
Ian Mclean
Now, Mr Mclean has been forced to take care of his own medication after the mix-up left his 16-year-old daughter, Chanelle Snedon, who is also his carer, in floods of tears and terrified she could have killed her own dad.
The loving father had taken the wrong pills for two weeks before realising the error.
He said: "She was out at a revision class and I was feeling okay, I could move about so I said I'd sort out my tablets.
"I was reading the label and it had the wrong name on.
"The tablets were something to do with salt.
"I felt sick, I've been really lucky, if it had been something else I could have been killed.
"When I told Chanelle she was distraught, shaking, she was saying: 'I could have killed you.'"
Mr Mclean slammed a 'lack of organisation' at the hospital, claiming the tablets belonged to a patient previously treated in the same bed.
Darent Valley Hospital
He added: "I went back and they admitted what they'd done, they said they belonged to the man who was in the bed before me.
"Is he missing his tablets then?
"What happens if this happens to somebody else? It's disgusting.
"I have had diabetes for around 10 years, I have injections four times a day and take a lot of tablets.
"Chanelle gives me my medication before she goes to school, she has looked after me since she was really young but this has been really difficult for her.
"She's scared now."
TOP STORIES:
A statement from Darent Valley Hospital said: "As soon as we were made aware of the error we apologised to Mr McLean.
"The Ward Sister later explained, following her investigations, how the mistake had happened.
"We are sorry Mr McLean feels that we had not responded to his telephone calls, we rang the number he gave us on more than one occasion and received no answer.
"We have left a voice message on his phone with a dedicated number to ring."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel