A hospital blunder that led to a heart patient being given the wrong drugs for four days, contributed to his death, an inquest heard today.
Mr Hugh Kirkpatrick's anguished family claimed he could still be alive if the error had been spotted sooner.
Despite the 69-year-old retired fitter being seriously ill, a pathologist told Belfast Coroners Court that the incorrect medication at Whiteabbey Hospital in Co Antrim accelerated his heart failure.
The dead man's son Stephen Kirkpatrick (29) hit out at the mix-up over medical records he insisted was fatal.
He said: "They only found out whenever it was too late.
"My dad was ill but there was a chance if he had been well enough to have an
operation he would still be alive.
Mr Kirkpatrick died last October of congestive heart failure in Whiteabbey where he had been kept for three months.
A heavy smoker who was exposed to asbestos while working at Belfast docks, he
was hoping valve replacement surgery in Dublin would save his life.
During his wait he was transferred to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast in September for routine checks. Mr Kirkpatrick's medical notes went with him from Whiteabbey but they were not sent back immediately when he returned a day later.
A staff nurse phoned the Royal in a bid to find out what drugs he was on and was given details for another patient, the inquest heard.
It was only when his condition deteriorated rapidly that the mistake was detected four days later and treatment halted.
But despite all attempts by medics they were unable to arrest the decline.
Professor Johnston from the Department of Pharmacology at Queen's University, Belfast, told the hearing that the balance of probabilities was that the medication, may have contributed to Mr Kirkpatrick's downward spiral but was not the cause.
In his findings the deputy coroner for Greater Belfast, Mr David Hunter, agreed that the medication administered at Whiteabbey may have contributed to Mr Kirkpatrick's eventual death.
He stressed, however, that no blame should be attached to medical staff at either Whiteabbey or the Royal hospitals.
He said: "The nurses in particular I think did the best that they could. They had to make some effort to find out what would be the appropriate medication to give Mr Kirkpatrick.
"They were hampered by what I believe was the fact that there was no proper procedure for them to follow in such circumstances."
The coroner added: "I believe proper procedures for dealing with such situations should be put in place across all hospital trusts in Northern Ireland."
PA