Legal News

A Coroner has urged a hospital trust to take on board any lessons learned from the case of a father-of-two who died from swine flu in hospital following a kidney transplant.

Former journalist and Newcastle council press officer Nigel Whitefield, 52, died at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle in March 2014

Local newspaper the Chronicle reports that Mr Whitefield had first undergone a transplant in 2000, but the organ donated by his brother became diseased.
He underwent a second kidney transplant operation in December 2013, but developed swine flu while recovering and died at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle on 1 March 2014.

Mr Whitefield had been on an immunosuppression regime given to patients at the hospital to help avoid the risk of rejecting the new organ – immunosuppressant therapy may make patients vulnerable to infection.

Mr Whitefield’s family questioned whether the swine flu infection could have been diagnosed earlier – and suggested that better procedures could be put in place to test for infections, especially during the flu season. Bacterial swabs had been taken after Mr Whitefield developed a cough and fever, the inquest heard – but he had not been tested for swine flu at first and not until his fever continued.

Professor Kate Gould – consultant microbiologist for Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust – said that, at the time, sporadic patients were being admitted with swine flu through the medical admissions unit at the RVI.

However, Mr Whitefield was the first patient in the transplant unit to contract swine flu.

In her conclusion, the Coroner Karen Dilks urged the hospital trust to take on board any learning points from Mr Whitefield’s case. She added:

“There is no evidence that early swabs would have led to early diagnosis and treatment – and that it would have affected the outcome.”

The Coroner gave a narrative verdict that Mr Whitefield died “due to complications of a surgical procedure”.


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