A Warwickshire man is suing an NHS belief after a sequence of medical failings left him with everlasting mind and sight harm and depending on his mother and father for each day care. David Bown, 41, was prescribed chemotherapy for greater than eight years regardless of medical steerage recommending remedy for not more than six months in circumstances like his.Bown, a former IT techniques supervisor and eager soccer coach from Atherstone, Warwickshire, was handled at College Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Belief after growing seizures round a decade in the past. Scans revealed a low-grade mind tumour, which was surgically eliminated in 2016.Attorneys say the issues started instantly after the operation. Scientific requirements require an MRI scan inside 48 hours of mind surgical procedure to determine probably deadly issues. That scan didn’t occur. When imaging was lastly carried out 4 days later, it confirmed bleeding and swelling on the mind, but Bown was not despatched again to theatre for emergency surgical procedure. As a substitute, he remained on the ward whereas additional scans have been requested.Throughout that delay, he suffered a stroke and later turned comatose. Solely then was he rushed again into theatre, the place surgeons eliminated a blood clot, inserted a drain and carried out additional tumour resection. Whereas the process relieved the stress on his mind, his authorized crew argue the intervention got here too late to stop irreversible neurological harm.
Years of pointless remedy
Afterwards, Bown was prescribed the chemotherapy drug temozolomide. Tips suggest six cycles, sometimes round six months, or, at most, 12 cycles for low-grade gliomas. Bown remained on the drug for greater than eight years, persevering with remedy till 2024.Unbiased specialists cited by his attorneys say the extended chemotherapy uncovered him to pointless dangers, together with a heightened likelihood of secondary blood cancersNow residing at dwelling together with his mother and father, Bown has important cognitive and visible impairments and requires each day help with treatment, meals and appointments. He additionally experiences melancholy, which his authorized crew say is instantly linked to the years of debilitating remedy.
David Bown had been residing an lively, unbiased life, working full-time, teaching soccer and socialising usually earlier than remedy/ Picture through Brabners / SWNS)
“I went from residing a standard, lively life, working, teaching youngsters’ soccer, seeing my mates, to being utterly depending on my mum and pop for all the pieces,” Bown mentioned.“I trusted the hospital to do what was finest for me however wanting again, I simply can’t perceive why I used to be handled the best way I used to be for therefore lengthy.“It has taken all the pieces from me.“I cry myself to sleep at night time, I dream the place I can see after which I get up and I can’t see. It’s a nightmare.”His father, Steve Bown, advised the BBC: “I want to see all these folks, the surgeons, the opposite docs there, ward nurses, I want to line them up towards a wall and say, ‘that is what you probably did to my son’.”
Wider issues on the belief
Additional particulars supplied through SWNS present that Bown’s case isn’t remoted. Legislation agency Brabners, which represents him, says it’s performing for greater than 30 sufferers who have been prescribed temozolomide for a lot longer than beneficial. One affected person, the agency claims, remained on the drug for 16 years.All the sufferers have been handled below the supervision of Prof Ian Brown, a senior clinician who has since retired.
GV of the College Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire. (Picture: through Brabners / SWNS)
Fiona Tinsley, a companion at Brabners, mentioned:“David was a younger man together with his complete future forward of him.“The cumulative impact of those failings has robbed him of his independence, his well being and years of his life.”She mentioned proof uncovered by the agency factors to “systemic failings” throughout a number of departments on the belief, together with neuro-oncology, neurosurgery, neuroradiology, nursing and pharmacy.“What started as issues about chemotherapy in Coventry now factors to systemic failings throughout a variety of apply areas,” Tinsley mentioned.“The human price has been devastating. Folks have been advised they’d have months to stay with out remedy and endured years of debilitating remedy, believing it was conserving them alive.”She added that sufferers had suffered bodily, psychological and monetary hurt, together with lack of fertility, early menopause and, in a single case, secondary leukaemia requiring a stem-cell transplant. All, she mentioned, had been positioned at elevated danger of secondary cancers.“These sufferers deserve solutions, accountability and assurance that each lesson is being realized,” she mentioned. “That is within the public curiosity.”The BBC experiences that the Royal School of Physicians has been commissioned by the belief to hold out an unbiased evaluate of 20 sufferers who obtained greater than 12 cycles of temozolomide between 2017 and 2023.In an announcement, College Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Belief mentioned: “We’re dedicated to offering the most secure attainable look after our sufferers. As a authorized declare is ongoing, we’re unable to remark additional at this stage.”
