Claire Boyd died in May of this year after losing almost half her body weight over a matter of months while receiving treatment for abdominal pains at Swindon’s Great Western Hospital. Her husband, Kevin Boyd, claimed that her weight was not monitored properly and that she suffered from insufficient medical attention. Claire had initially been treated at University College London Hospital, where she had a procedure for her abdominal pain which resulted in an inflammation of the pancreas. This led to a catastrophic blood clot that restricted blood flow to her intestines, causing a dangerous infection. As a result, she was admitted to intensive care.
According to Kevin, Claire was left with short-gut syndrome and required artificial feeding, which did not happen, causing her to lose weight dramatically. Despite being discharged back home to Devizes, Kevin said that she was in no condition to leave the hospital, as she fainted in the car on the way back. He further claimed that her clinical team failed to notice that she had lost almost half her body weight in a matter of months until it was too late.
Claire had lived with abdominal pains for eight years, and Kevin is now questioning the need for the procedure, as it is typically a high-risk procedure. Kevin said that nobody considered that Claire’s ability to make decisions had been impacted by the trauma that she had experienced. He was repeatedly telling the medics, but nobody paid attention to him. Both hospitals have since carried out reviews and offered their condolences. In a letter, Claire’s consultant formally apologized for the “devastating complication, as well as the subsequent prescribing error.”
While both GWH and UCLH have implemented more robust processes for medicines management and patient monitoring, Kevin is searching for answers he hopes will arise from an impending inquest. The tragic death of Claire Boyd continues to haunt her husband
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