‘Doctors said my dad would be ok after getting Covid. It turned out his illness was terminal’
Father-of-seven died after doctors failed to disclose prognosis
- A father-of-seven, William Chapman, died eight months after discovering he had terminal pulmonary fibrosis, a diagnosis doctors at Countess of Chester Hospital failed to disclose to him.
- Mr Chapman only learned of his prognosis when his GP, mistakenly believing he was already aware, mentioned it during a phone call, despite a junior doctor previously reassuring him he would be “ok”.
- An investigation by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) found a “worrying lack of accountability” at the hospital, citing failures in record-keeping, engaging with Mr Chapman’s family and learning from errors.
- The PHSO highlighted that if Mr Chapman had been informed earlier, he could have made informed decisions about his remaining time, which his family stated he would have used to stop working and spend time with them.
- The Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has since apologised, accepted the Ombudsman's findings, and agreed to implement improvements and pay Mr Chapman’s wife £1,200 in compensation.