'Hospital's neglect in my son's death has ripped our hearts out'

'Hospital's neglect in my son's death has ripped our hearts out'

Peter Dervin spent an entire day at Broomfield Hospital in Essex by the bedside of his eldest son, Greg, before stepping out briefly to get some dinner. He had pleaded with the hospital staff not to leave Greg alone during his short absence. However, Dervin recalls that his concerns were dismissed with what he described as almost a laugh, with staff assuring him that as nurses, they would take care of patients.

Greg, a 35-year-old structural engineer and devoted Arsenal fan from Roxwell near Chelmsford, had been administered lorazepam, a medication known to cause unsteadiness and agitation. Upon Dervin’s return, he found Greg in critical condition after suffering a severe head injury from a fall in his hospital room. Left unattended, Greg had fallen and struck his head on a piece of equipment, resulting in catastrophic brain damage. Sadly, he passed away a week later on 10 May 2024. Peter Dervin described his son as someone who “made me walk taller and be a good person,” emphasizing Greg’s potential as a father that was tragically cut short.

Greg was admitted to Broomfield Hospital on 23 April 2024 after being transferred from a London hospital, following nearly 500 days of treatment for a heart condition linked to complications with his Crohn’s disease, which his family criticized as being mismanaged. Coroner Sonia Hayes noted that Greg arrived in Essex with a comprehensive discharge plan that included two-to-one nursing care. However, this was replaced at Broomfield by a security guard tasked with monitoring Greg from outside his room. The guard, Olufemi Oyedeji, was not allowed to intervene clinically despite witnessing Greg fall multiple times before the fatal accident. These incidents were also not reported to the hospital’s falls team as they should have been, highlighting systemic failures in patient care.

The inquest revealed that the hospital made “gross failures” by assigning someone unable to provide the necessary level of care for Greg’s condition. Dervin expressed his heartbreak, saying, “He had to watch my son fall and die through a door because he wasn’t allowed in the room.” Questions were raised over whether employing a security

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