Mum accuses hospital of ignoring dying son

11:07am Tuesday 2nd September 2003

A DISTRAUGHT mother has hit out at Queen Mary’s Hospital, claiming her dying disabled son was treated like a second-class citizen.

Jean Andrews, of William Barefoot Drive, Eltham, is angry after 27-year-old son Nicholas received what she describes as “appalling treatment” in the fortnight leading up to his death.

The 57-year-old mother-of-three says she was forced to stay at the hospital to ensure her son received acceptable care while being treated for a chest infection.

Nicholas was born at Queen Mary’s but suffered from cerebral palsy and epilepsy after being deprived of oxygen during labour.

During his stay, his mother, sister Lisa, 30, and brother Steven, 29, kept a constant vigil at his bedside. Mrs Andrews said: “They really didn’t seem to care and saw him as a second-class citizen.

“Everything was left to us — changing him, washing him, feeding him — we even had to make sure he got his drugs on time.

She criticised staff for what she saw as an uncaring attitude.

The grieving mother said: “From the start they didn’t want him in the ward, he got appalling treatment up until the day he died. As a person with difficulties he should have been looked after more rather than less. We had to fight for everything we wanted.” The final insult came when Mrs Andrews complained to Greenwich Primary Care Trust and received a reply addressed to Mrs Arnold commiserating with her on the death of her mother. She said: “I thought if they can’t even get a letter right, no wonder it was so bad.” Jo Shewbridge, the trust’s head of corporate services, said: “This was a most unfortunate clerical error.

“As soon as Mrs Andrews brought this to our attention, we verbally apologised unreservedly and followed this up on the same day with a formal letter of apology.” A spokesman for Queen Mary’s offered the hospital’s sincere condolences to Mrs Andrews and her family and confirmed a full investigation into Nicholas’ treatment, prior to his death on June 2 is now under way.