George Locke

My father was 82 when he died one month ago on the 2nd February. He had been admitted into hospital of the 4th Jan 2019 with some suspected infections, his urinary tract and also his hand. (Sepsis and Urinary Tract Infections, Sepsis and Bacterial Infections) The hand had been a recurring infection treated with antibiotics in the past, but it seemed more was wrong.

He was becoming more distant and confused and hadn’t been very mobile for a while, but after this period in hospital for a few weeks he was unable to stand without assistance, and spent two weeks in a nursing home so we could make space for a hospital bed at home, because this special bed couldn’t be put upstairs, and we had to clear a downstairs room. Close to when he was due to come home, the carers at the home found blood in his pad, and came into hospital again. A UTI had been spotted as a likelihood by a doctor there, and we had also been advised that he may have cancer of the kidneys.

He went back to the home that night. It had been a huge family effort to bring him home, but a few days later after returning home, he had been sleeping more and more, and on Friday 1st February, his breathing was very strained, and I was unable to rouse him. I called for an ambulance, and the paramedics spotted the signs of infection, and was taken to resus. They said that they could give fluids and antibiotics, but that he may not return to a state of his prior health after that. That evening he was settled onto a ward, and my mother and me left a bit later. We got a call later that evening from a nurse asking us to come as he was very ill. We rushed to the hospital but were too late. He had passed away just into the early hours of Saturday. The cause of death was recorded as urosepsis, and acute kidney injury.

We were both very sad that we hadn’t been with him when he died, but we both thought he would pull through over the night, as he had responded to the treatment. Had my father been younger he may have survived this. A saving grace was that these are natural causes of death, and that my dad led a wonderful life.

Source: Andrew Locke, son