Hospital allergy death.

An inquest at Lincoln Coroner’s Court has heard that a 65 year old woman died in hospital after receiving a drug that she was allergic to.

Susan Hammond, 65, from North Clifton died at Lincoln County Hospital after she was given Penicillin in July 2009.  The inquest heard that medical staff missed seven warnings about Mrs Hammond’s allergy. Mrs Hammond was given the Penicillin antibiotic Augmentin and suffered a violent anaphylactic reaction that led to cardiac arrest.

Mrs Hammond had reacted badly to Penicillin on two previous occasions before she was admitted to hospital on 03 July 2009 with a suspected  chest infection.

In a statement, United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust apologised unreservedly for the mistakes made during the care of Mrs Hammond in 2009.  The Coroner, Stuart Fisher, recorded a narrative verdict.

The inquest heard that the medication was prescribed by Dr Viv Gunasekera but administered by nurse Susan Elliott.  Mr Fisher said of Dr Gunasekera: “She accepted that with the benefit of hindsight she felt that she had made a serious error of judgement in prescribing Augmentin”.