Death trial judge blasts hospital

A DEATH trial judge has called for an inquiry after a 47-year-old man with a serious head injury was left abandoned outside the Royal Oldham Hospital because staff thought he was drunk.

Two crucial opportunities to save Arnold Siddall’s life were missed after he suffered a fractured skull after he was pushed to the ground following an argument outside a Failsworth wine bar.

Mr Siddall, a welder, was admitted to the hospital three times after the incident. The first time he was allowed to leave without seeing a doctor, On the second occasion he was wheeled out of the hospital and left in the grounds because staff thought he was being disruptive.

By the time he was admitted for a third time he was gravely ill and he died two days later.
Mr Siddall’s family are now planning to sue the Pennine Acute Hospital Trust after eminent Cambridge neurosurgeon Professor John Pickard said it was likely Mr Siddall would have lived had he been diagnosed and treated on one of the first two occasions that he was admitted to hospital. The catalogue of blunders came to light during the trial of Paul Parry (25), of Assheton Road, Newton Heath, who was yesterday found not guilty of Mr Siddall’s manslaughter at Manchester Crown Court.

Following the trial, Judge Mr Justice Openshaw condemned the actions of the Royal Oldham Hospital and announced his intention to write to the Health Trust and Oldham Coroner Simon Nelson, so that they could launch a thorough investigation into the events which led to Mr Siddall’s death.

The court had heard that Mr Siddall, of Oldham Road, Failsworth, was first admitted to the Royal Oldham Hospital at around 2.30am on September 22 last year after the wine bar incident in which he hit the ground with a sickening thud and was out cold for around six minutes.

The nurse who assessed him when he arrived at the hospital categorised him as a priority three patient, meaning that a doctor would have to see him within an hour, but he was allowed to leave without being diagnosed or treated when he said he wanted to go home.

Over the next few hours hospital CCTV cameras captured Mr Siddall stumbling around outside, crouching down while clutching his head, losing his balance and being sick while holding his head in his hands.

By around 1pm, he was found slumped outside a near-by house by a concerned resident who phoned an ambulance and he was re-admitted to hospital.

He was again assessed as a priority three patient and placed in a waiting area, but staff complained that he wasn’t being compliant and he was placed in a wheelchair, taken outside and left on a grassed area near the hospital.

By around 4pm, a woman who worked close by was so concerned about Mr Siddall’s state that she contacted the hospital.

Paramedics and police officers attended the scene and Mr Siddall was arrested for being drunk and incapable.

By this stage Mr Siddall was gravely ill, as the head injuries he had sustained earlier on had been leaking blood and pressure had been building in his brain as the hours passed by.

Once in the police van Mr Siddall began to shake and officers rushed him to hospital, where his fracture was finally discovered at around 5.30pm — around 15 hours after he had first been admitted to hospital.

But the medical intervention proved too late and Mr Siddall died on September 24.

Judge Openshaw said: “Although the symptoms of brain injury may be confused with drunkenness, as we heard, it is quite clear to me that the very severe skull fracture which Mr Siddall was clearly suffering went undiagnosed by the Royal Oldham Hospital despite two formal admissions at about 2am and again at about 1.30pm.

“The circumstances in which he was left, one might say abandoned, in hospital grounds by security staff strongly suggest that he did not receive the care to which he was entitled.”

Kris Inskip, a partner and expert in clinical negligence at the Manchester Law firm Pannone, confirmed he will be representing the family of Mr Siddall, who had two sisters and one brother, at the forthcoming inquest and the pursuit of a clinical negiglence claim.

He said: “The family believe that the hospital could have prevented his death had his condition been treated and diagnosed when he first attended hospital in the early hours. If we prove this to be the case, they would expect the hospital to accept responsibility early on, so this painful process is not dragged out.”

A spokesman for Pennine Acute Trust, which runs the Royal Oldham Hospital, said: “We would again offer our condolences to the family of Mr Siddall.

“Because of further legal action we are unable to comment further at this time.”