A heartbroken widow is demanding answers after her husband tragically died choking on his dentures while in hospital care.
Paul Stewart, 44, was taken to the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley following stomach and chest pains which came after a seizure at his home. Paul later swallowed his false teeth during another seizure and lost his life.
Wendy Stewart, 50, recounted how she listened helplessly over the phone to Paul's desperate struggle to breathe, saying: "How can I ever erase the sound of Paul choking from my head?" The Stewart family are adamant that Paul should not have had access to his dentures alone in his room, knowing he had a history of seizures and claim hospital staff failed to act to remove them during his fatal last seizure, reports the Daily Record.
A distraught Wendy, from Erskine, Renfrewshire, has claimed: "Not once have the hospital ever said sorry to me for his death." She is seeking an apology from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and pushing for changes in procedure, adamant that no other patient should suffer a similar fate.
Despite grappling with her own health issues and memory problems following a brain bleed, Wendy bravely took legal action against the hospital following Paul's passing in 2016. The case didn't reach a hearing and was dismissed with a judgment stating there was no case to answer. Wendys lawyer withdrew from the case after moving practices, leaving her to fight alone for justice.
Wendy, a grieving partner, recounts the heart-wrenching ordeal she faced due to court delays exacerbated by Covid, highlighting her five-year wait for a decision which has now resulted in a hefty bill for the health board's costs. Through tears, Wendy recalled the personal moments, saying: "When Paul was taken into hospital I got a call from a nurse asking me to bring him up ice cream and his dentures. He hated being seen without his teeth in."
"He had a plate with about eight teeth on it. But he'd had a fit at home so when he had one in hospital the first thing they should have done was remove his teeth." She added: "When they tried to resuscitate him they removed two teeth from his throat but he had aspirated others."
Paul suffered long-term health issues, attributing them to Lyme disease after tick bites years prior. In February 2016, worsening symptoms including stomach and chest pains led Wendy to call an ambulance. After receiving intravenous morphine at the hospital, Paul was discharged. Tragically, just two days later on February 7, 2016, Wendy discovered Paul in severe distress.
She explained: "He was trying to speak but was making no sense. It looked like he was having a fit." A subsequent emergency call brought Paul back to RAH, where he sadly passed away after four days.
Reflecting on their final memories, Wendy said: "I had been up during the day on February 11. We had such a good laugh together. I will always be grateful for that day. Between 10pm and 10.30pm that night the phone rang. I was sitting in the middle of the children on the sofa and the phone was on speakerphone.
"A nurse said she was just phoning to find out what my husband's temperament was. She said he had punched a nurse and broken her glasses. I laughed and said 'I think you have got the wrong wife, that's something my husband would never do.' She asked if I would speak to him."
"She held the phone to his ear and we could hear him choking, trying to speak. He was struggling to breathe and there was a strange whistling sound."
Wendy quickly threw a jumper over her pyjamas and rushed to the hospital. But when she arrived at the ward she was prevented from entering. A short time later a doctor came to see her and said they were about to stop trying to resuscitate him.
Wendy said: "I told him to go back in and make him breathe because it wasn't right. He said they had fished out a couple of teeth from his throat and once they got him organised they would let me in."
"I didn't even get time with him alone. A nurse sat there the whole time. I told him I loved him and I was sorry I couldn't save him but I hoped he was in a better place now." Wendy and Paul already had a private doctor, Dr Lance Forbat, who was trying to help them prove he had Lyme disease and he travelled from England to sit in on the post-mortem.
It was Dr Forbat who called Wendy to inform her Paul had choked on his dentures as he'd had a seizure. Some of Paul's teeth were only found during the post-mortem examination.
The autopsy also showed that Paul was suffering from pancreatitis, which was the cause of his initial pain, but it wasn't severe enough to be a factor in his death. A spokesperson for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde expressed their condolences, stating: "While we cannot comment on the details of any patient's care, our sympathies remain with the family of this patient following his sad death in 2016."
They added: "However, we would like to make clear that this case was the subject of legal proceedings and NHSGGC and its staff were found to have no case to answer." The spokesperson also emphasised: "Any suggestion that NHSGGC or its staff acted in any way inappropriately would be inaccurate and misleading."