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Case ref:201004596
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Date:July 2011
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Body:Lanarkshire NHS Board
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Sector:Health
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Outcome:Not upheld, no recommendations
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Subject:Communication, staff attitude, dignity, confidentiality
Summary
Mrs C was admitted to a hospital in which her husband was already a patient. She complained that a member of hospital staff wrote in her medical records that her husband was dying, and that a nurse told her daughter this. The Board apologised and took action to stop this happening again. When we investigated we noted the distress this had caused and concluded that it would have been better if the Board had not used the word 'dying' in Mrs C's records. We did not, however, uphold the complaint or consider any action to be appropriate. The facts about what the nurse said could not be established as there was no independent evidence of what was said, so we could not reach a conclusion on that aspect.