Pensioner died from blood poisoning after doctors sent her home with a broken shin because they X-rayed the WRONG leg

Sent home: Mildred Stokes, 79, broke her shin in a fall but medics failed to diagnose it because they x-rayed the wrong one before she died

A pensioners admitted to hospital with a broken leg died after hospital staff X-rayed the wrong limb and sent her home.
Mildred Stokes, 79, was seen by four different doctors, but all failed to notice that her healthy left leg had been X-rayed, when in fact she had broken her right leg in two places.
The dementia sufferer died of a severe infection similar to blood poisoning caused by the break eight days later.
Her sister, Irene Martin, 75, criticised Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester yesterday after a coroner was told it was ‘possible’ that Miss Stokes would have lived had it not been for a ‘series of mishaps and errors’ in her care.
‘I’m still very angry,’ said Mrs Martin. ‘It’s not rocket science to X-ray the correct leg.
Her right leg and foot were swollen and inflamed. Yet no one thought to X-ray it for days.
‘If they had treated her properly from the start she would not have died.’
An inquest was told that Miss Stokes was admitted to hospital on November 30 last year after falling at Allingham Care Home in Timperley, Cheshire, where she was a resident, and injuring her right leg.
But there was confusion over the X-ray at Wythenshawe Hospital because a doctor hit ‘left’ instead of ‘right’ when inputting instructions to the radiology department on a computer.
Despite the right leg being red and swollen, radiologists went ahead with X-raying the incorrect limb. When no break was found, Miss Stokes was discharged.

However, the pensioner was re-admitted the next day in severe pain. She was seen by four medics, who each failed to notice that the X-ray was of the wrong leg.
Even when they realised the mistake a series of errors and poor communication between staff meant it was a further four days before Miss Stokes’ right limb was X-rayed.
It revealed she had fractured her shin and calf bone but by then she was already suffering an infection as a consequence.

Disappointing: Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester said their care 'fell below the standards we would expect' after the inquest into Ms Stokes' death

A further delay meant she was not put on a drip to treat the problem for 24 hours. Surgeons realised Miss Stokes needed surgery but by then she was too ill to undergo an operation. She died on December 8.
Dr John Crampton, a consultant at Wythenshawe Hospital, started an internal review after being left ‘incredulous’ at some of the errors in the treatment.
He told the hearing at Manchester coroners’ court: ‘It was entirely clear that there had been a series of mishaps and errors in her care.’

He said it was ‘possible’ that Miss Stokes would have lived had the fractures been identified sooner.
Recording a narrative verdict, coroner Sara Lewis said Miss Stokes died of sepsis, a severe reaction to infection, brought on by the fractures.
She said it was not possible to say whether Miss Stokes would have lived had the ‘systemic’ errors not been made.
The Daily Mail reported yesterday that almost 13,000 patients die needlessly of sepsis each year because of delays in diagnosis or treatment, according to the Health Service Ombudsmen.
A spokesman for University Hospital of South Manchester Trust, which runs Wythenshawe Hospital, said new measures had been introduced  regarding X-rays ‘to reduce the risk of this happening again’.

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