Hospital wrong to ban woman visiting partner on his deathbed

The partner of a dying man was denied the chance to be at his bedside during his final moments after a hospital wrongly banned her from daily visits, an ombudsman report has found.

Brian Boulton, 70, was admitted to Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport, South Wales, after suffering from a chest infection, which was later diagnosed as aspiration pneumonia caused by oesophageal cancer.

Celia Jones, his “long term life partner” of twenty years, was accused by hospital staff of giving the retired tailor a larger dose of the prescribed furosemide medication than was allowed. Ms Jones, 65, was restricted to one-hour visits twice a week, meaning she was unable to be with him when he died a day after her last authorised visit on Wednesday 27 September 2017.

The Public Services Ombudsman for Wales has upheld her complaints about her “appalling” treatment, ruling that the visiting restrictions were imposed “without warning” and resulted in a “significant injustice”.

It found no record of Ms Jones, a retired nurse, admitting to a senior ward manager that she gave the large dose of medicine to her partner.

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Source: The Telegraph, 6 January 2020