Disabled girl judged 'not worth saving': Charity claims hospital doctors let Tina Papalabropoulos die
A disabled woman died in hospital because doctors believed her life ‘was not worth saving’, a charity claimed yesterday.
Tina Papalabropoulos, 23, developed pneumonia days after suffering a bad cough.
In a highly critical report, the health ombudsman said doctors missed chances to save her life. Mencap called the death ‘an avoidable tragedy’.
Miss Papalabropoulos suffered from learning disabilities, epilepsy, a form of dwarfism and a severe curvature of the spine and was cared for by her parents.
In January 2009 she developed a cough and a GP visited her home in Wickford, Essex, and told her parents to give her antibiotics.
A request for a second visit the next day was ignored, although the GP did telephone the family, and the GP’s out-of-hours service refused a home visit until more than 24 hours later.
Miss Papalabropoulos was eventually admitted to Basildon Hospital but then had to wait four days before she was seen by a respiratory consultant.
The trust was criticised for a ‘prolonged delay’ in her treatment including failing to administer antibiotics immediately and not moving her to a high dependency unit.
Her parents said they were initially told she had a minor infection but claimed a ‘do not resuscitate’ sign was put on her bed two hours after she was admitted.
Doctors said they would not attempt to revive her as it would break her ribs, and one senior consultant allegedly told her parents they should not be afraid of the word ‘die’, before repeating: ‘Die, die, die.’
Treatment: Miss Papalabropoulos was eventually admitted to Basildon Hospital (pictured) but then had to wait four days before she was seen by a respiratory consultantDoctors also allowed Mrs Papalabropoulos, 56, and her husband Christo, 57, to give their daughter food and drink, when she should have been fed intravenously to stop fluid getting into her lungs.
She died five days after she was admitted to hospital. Her mother said: ‘There was a complete lack of compassion from everyone. There were basic hospital treatments that she was denied because she was a disabled person.
‘Tina was an angel. She couldn’t talk or walk but she was able to communicate with us. If they had done their best then I could have accepted the way she died. But they didn’t.’
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The health ombudsman’s report said: ‘We found that doctors had missed any opportunity there might have been –however small – to save her life by providing earlier and more intensive treatment for her.’
The ombudsman partly upheld Mr and Mrs Papalabropoulos’ complaints about Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and South East Essex Emergency Doctors Service, the GPs’ out-of-hours service but said it was impossible to know if she would have survived if she had received better treatment.
'Doctors held the view that Tina’s life was not worth saving, due to her disability'
Beverley Dawkins, MencapMencap policy manager Beverley Dawkins said: ‘Doctors held the view that Tina’s life was not worth saving, due to her disability.’
A spokesman for Basildon NHS trust said: ‘Since then [2009] the hospital has made significant improvement to the care and treatment we provide our patients with learning disabilities and we continue to listen to our patients, the families and carers to find out what further enhancements can be made.’
