‘My son shouldn’t have died before me – if only his sepsis was diagnosed’

The mother of a man whose sepsis wasn’t detected until it was too late has said ‘a part of me died with him’.

Russell McLuckie, from Denny, near Falkirk, died aged 28 from multi-organ failure through cardiac arrest as a result of sepsis after spending almost three weeks in Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert, Scotland.

He was initially admitted with severe colitis – inflammation of the colon – and passed away on October 17, 2021.

He was assured by paramedics and his GP that piles or his diet were responsible before he began ‘deteriorating in front’ of his family.

He was given a bed in a ‘cleaning cupboard’ due to a lack of capacity at the hospital.

Over the following 20 days, Russell was given care that his family described as being ‘the worst you can imagine’, particularly on Ward B12, where he spent his final days.

The hospital has apologized for failing to recognize his symptoms but Russell’s mother Anne McLuckie, 63, and fiancée Natasha Schieritz, 34, told Metro this was a ‘slap in the face’ and ‘means nothing’ after his calls for help were ‘ignored’ by medics.

Anne said: ‘This was the worst thing any parent should have to endure. I will never unsee what I have seen.

‘He shouldn’t have died before me. I brought him into this world and I should not have had to put my son in the ground.

‘Russell had vibrant blue eyes and as the color drained from his eyes, and we knew he was gone, I was just screaming “open your eyes, open your eyes”.

‘I didn’t know pain like this existed. We all lose people but we don’t expect to lose our kids.

‘You lose parents, grandparents, and as hard as that is you get over that. I’ll never, ever get over losing Russell because he should be here.

‘I live through this pain every day and I’ll never unsee what I saw in that hospital.

‘A part of me died with him. It changed me as a person.’

Russell worked as a DPD delivery driver and was a passionate gamer. At one point, he even ranked in the top 10 Call of Duty players in the world.

Natasha, Russell’s fiancée, said his death was ‘utterly devastating’.

She told Metro: ‘It felt like my life had literally ended watching him die. When he took his last breath, he turned to me and Anne, and that very moment was a blur.

‘My whole life changed. We were planning on a family and this year we would have been together for 10 years.

‘A few months before he passed away we agreed that we were going to start trying for children – before we knew how ill he was actually becoming. They were plans we were overjoyed about.’

His mother added that when Russell was in hospital, he told her: ‘Being in here is an eye-opener – and all you’ve ever wanted is to be a gran.

‘And when I get out of here, he said, we’re going to make that happen.’

Over the following 20 days, Russell was given care that his family described as being ‘the worst you can imagine’, particularly on Ward B12, where he spent his final days.

Russell’s family told Metro that hospital staff showed a ‘lack of compassion’, adding that his treatment was ‘inhumane’.

When he asked medics for pain medication while suffering from sepsis, although unknown at this point, Anne said he was told to ‘stop ringing the buzzer as there were cancer patients who needed the morphine more’.

Anne said he was given a stoma bag but nurses refused to change this, telling him he needed to learn how to do this himself for when he was discharged.

In his final moments, Russell’s mother said he was told to ‘stop hyperventilating’. He died ’30 seconds later’.

Independently-assessed evidence from his medical records points to concerns including the length of time he was given steroids by IV before emergency surgery, the fact his bowel frequency was not identified as being of concern much earlier and the abrupt withdrawal of medication.

A Serious Adverse Event Report from NHS Forth Valley found that the hospital should have recognized Russell’s symptoms of sepsis earlier but said it cannot respond to the family’s concerns over the standards of care he received on the wards or staff behavior, as it is not documented in his medical notes.

Russell’s family are being supported by the law firm Slater and Gordon – with Derek Couper, head of clinical negligence in Scotland, acting on their behalf.

He said: ‘Russell’s death was wholly avoidable and NHS Forth Valley has many questions to answer over what happened.

‘We will do absolutely everything we can to get the answers they need and deserve over what happened to their beloved Russell and are committed to supporting them every step of the way in their fight for justice.’

NHS Forth Valley told Metro in a statement: ‘Following a detailed review we identified a number of actions to further strengthen and improve sepsis training and education across our clinical teams.

‘We met with the family to share the review findings and all the recommendations identified have been fully implemented.

‘We would encourage the family to get in touch with our Patient Relations team if they have any further questions or concerns so we can look into these and respond directly.

‘Patient safety remains our highest priority and we will continue to take forward service developments and improvements to ensure patients receive the best care and treatment available.’

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