Man dies after A&E sent him home and ‘told him to drink Lucozade’ despite vomiting 100 times

A man died after A&E doctors sent him home from hospital and “told him to drink Lucozade” despite him vomiting 100 times in 24 hours.

Nick Rousseau died from an undiagnosed blocked bowel in 2019 after doctors at Milton Keynes Hospital failed to spot that he had the life-threatening condition.

The 47-year-old was sent home twice in three days and reassured he “would be alright” as doctors believed he had gastroenteritis, his “devastated” wife Kimberly White said.

But Mr Rousseau was actually suffering from an ischaemic bowel, a condition which blocks the arteries to the bowel. He had been to see his doctors several times and had lost three stones in weight over two years due to vomiting and diarrhoea but was never diagnosed.

His family, represented by Osbornes Law, received a six-figure payout in June from Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. While it did not admit negligence, it accepted that there were features of Mr Rousseau’s illness which could have justified admission, inpatient observation, and further tests, which could have given a definitive diagnosis.

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Source: The Independent, 4 August 2023