London:
An Indian-origin man has filed a case against a hospital in the UK alleging that faster intervention from its doctors could have saved his 30-year-old wife's life who died from multiple organ failure.
Prabhanjan Behera had taken his wife Madhumita Mandal to the Accidents & Emergency (A&E) unit at Croydon University Hospital on September 7, 2013 in south London after she had been vomiting for over four hours.
He then pleaded for a nurse to see to his wife, who repeatedly vomited in the waiting room, but the receptionist allegedly could not find one and told them they would have to wait.
The insurance professional died four days later from multiple organ failure triggered by a ruptured cyst.
"I feel that there were a number of occasions that if doctors had intervened and treated her sooner, she would still be with me today," Mr Behera was quoted as saying by the Evening Standard.
"Losing Maddie has changed my life completely - I feel like I've lost everything and my world came crumbling down," he added in reference to the death two years ago.
Coroner Dr Serena Lynch at Croydon Coroner's Court said in her verdict this week: "For the prospect of survival, time was of the essence and minutes were wasted. But the evidence does not disclose that her death would have been prevented by earlier assessment."
A spokesperson for the Croydon Urgent Care Centre said, "Mandal was correctly streamed to the Urgent Care Centre (UCC) based upon the symptoms she presented with when she initially walked in."
"Unfortunately her condition deteriorated rapidly and, while our nurse who saw Mandal after 51 minutes in the UCC correctly escalated the situation to the emergency department, we are sorry to Mandal's family for their distress during the wait to be seen," the spokesperson said.