A FORMER doctor says he was let down by his profession after other medics failed to spot the condition which led to his wife suffering a debilitating stroke.
Dr Colin Barron said that symptoms which should have revealed his wife Vivien was living with a tumour on her heart were not properly diagnosed and better medical procedures should have been put in place.
Mrs Barron has been left profoundly disabled after suffering a stroke in 2011 which robbed her of her mobility, much of her sight and speech and the use of her right hand.
READ MORE: 560 operations ditched due to shortages
Her condition would have been uncovered if medics had linked rashes on her hands and feet to the tumour – something which is known to happen – but they failed to spot the dangers.
Dr Barron is also calling for a better system of compensation for patients affected by medical negligence after he suffered a heart attack which he believes was caused by the stress of fighting a legal battle to bring NHS Scotland to account.
He has recorded his experiences in a book, titled ‘A Life by Misadventure’, in the hopes that the couple’s story will help others avoid similar medical emergencies.
Dr Barron, 61, said: “Both our lives have been destroyed by this dreadful mistake and both the politicians and the medical profession need to learn lessons from this tragedy.
“If just one person in the world avoids a stroke because of what I have written in this book then I will consider it a success.”
READ MORE: 560 operations ditched due to shortages
Mrs Barron’s problems began in 2009, when she developed red spots on her hands and feet and began to suffer other health problems, such as swollen joints.
She was diagnosed with vasculitis, an inflammation of the blood vessels, yet all treatments failed and doctors eventually said that they did not know what was wrong with her.
In fact, the rashes were being caused by a heart tumour, which releases particles into the bloodstream which makes their way to the skin.
A number of scientific papers have been published warning specialists to watch out for the condition in patients with vasculitis.
However, none of this was picked up and Mrs Barron, then aged 55, collapsed from a stroke at home in Dunblane while taking a bath.
Her husband writes: “Friday, 20 May 2011, is a date I will never forget. It was the day my wife nearly died – the day she lost the ability to speak. It was the day she had a massive stroke, the day our lives changed forever."
“I’m going to have a bath,’ she said. It was the last thing she would say for several weeks, the final words she would ever speak in her normal voice.”
READ MORE: 560 operations ditched due to shortages
Mrs Barron was left with severe brain damage and is now semi-paralysed, blind in one eye and with limited vision in the other. The mother-of-two lost most of her speech and cannot read or write. Dr Barron has given up work to care for her.
He launched a legal battle with NHS Scotland over his wife’s treatment, eventually settling out of court. But he believes the stress of the situation contributed to a heart attack he suffered in 2015.
Dr Barron, a former ophthalmologist, said: “I believe the present system of compensation for the victims of medical accidents is unfair. The requirement that claimants prove negligence means that many compensation cases fail even though on a common-sense basis they seem to have merit.
"I think the solution is for the Government to introduce a no-fault compensation scheme similar to that which operates in Scandinavian countries, which would avoid the need to prove negligence in court.”
The Scottish Government launched a consultation on switching to a ‘no-fault’ compensation scheme last year.
READ MORE: 560 operations ditched due to shortages
A spokesman said: “Ministers are considering responses to the consultation on a no-blame redress scheme, and how this fits with the wider issues of supporting people affected by harm and openness and learning when things go wrong. Next steps will be outlined in due course.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel