Mark Howitt

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This is my dad’s story. My dad already had a lot of medical issues like COPD, bronchitis and asthma to name a few. (Sepsis and COPD) He didn’t walk well due to an operation on his leg years before and more recent surgeries on his feet. He starting falling more regularly and my uncle who lives close to him had called out a doctor on several occasions.

On this occasion in March, he called out the doctor after finding dad on the floor again. The doctor sent dad to a rehabilitation facility to enable him to recover. My uncle called me to let me know so I travelled from Leicestershire to Worcestershire to visit dad and bring his dog home. When I arrived he had lost a lot of weight and although slightly confused, he seemed himself. I returned home and visited him again a couple of days later.

He had refused to get out of bed until I arrived and seemed more confused. I had arranged a meeting to discuss his discharge requirements and a care plan. A couple of days later a nurse called to say my dad seemed to be having hallucinations and sent him back to hospital. When I arrived there I was told he had an infection.

I stayed in Worcestershire to visit him every day and encourage him to eat. He seemed more confused now but nobody at the hospital seemed worried nor said more than the initial infection diagnosis. Two days later I arrived and he looked really poorly, he was struggling to breathe and I got upset. The nurse again said it’s just an infection but it didn’t seem that way. They said he had an injury on his foot/ankle that was infected and scheduled to operate on it the following morning to clean it all out (next day being Saturday and dad’s birthday).

I called Sat morning to ask how it had gone and to see when I could visit dad, and I was asked to come straight in as he was distressed and they wanted me to calm him down. I arrived and there were lots of doctors and nurses around dad. I got him calm while they took some blood samples. He had oxygen through a mask but kept removing it so they put it into his nose. I was then asked to go with the a man who was from ICU. He had been to assess dad for intensive care but basically told me if dad was to beat this it would be without any machines, he also advised that his chances were slim and if I needed to call anyone I should.

I fell to pieces, nobody had even said he was poorly enough to possibly die. I immediately called my uncle to get to me asap. I also called my sisters and told them to make the hour-and-a-half journey to Worcester. Doctors came by constantly doing various things. I went to meet my sisters and as we got back to dad he took a turn for the worst and within an hour he was gone! My sisters only just made it. His 58th birthday and he died. I was utterly heartbroken. An investigation was launched into his death 2 weeks after his funeral which took over 3 months. It’s coming up to a year since I lost dad and I still don’t have all the answers. Thanks for reading.

Source: Sonja Howitt (Mark's daughter)

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