Cleaning business owner Rachael Emes had a heart attack and epileptic seizures after the doctor at Watford General Hospital gave her 10 times the recommended dose of adrenaline
A grandmother who was given a potentially deadly overdose by a doctor who “panicked” when she had an adverse reaction to medication has revealed her terrifying experience.
Rachael Emes had a heart attack and epileptic seizures after a medic at Watford General Hospital gave her 10 times the recommended dose of adrenaline. Rachael, 47, told the Mirror: “It is absolutely horrific that something so simple could go so wrong. The doctor shouldn’t have administered the adrenaline by IV, he wasn’t qualified to do that, and it has caused my life to be turned upside down.”
Cleaning business owner Rachael, who is a gran to 11-month-old Nelly, says she ended up in intensive care after the overdose and is still haunted by what happened to her on that day in March 2021. She arrived in hospital having had an adverse reaction to some antibiotics she had been prescribed, but she was given a potentially fatal dose of adrenaline intravenously, just five minutes after an initial dose was injected into her.
A serious incident report by West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust found that a junior doctor who administered the 20ml dose – 10 times the advised 1ml or 2ml – had “panicked” after Rachael’s reaction to the medication and the fact the initial dose of adrenaline failed to have an effect. Medics conceded that the dose Rachael received could have been fatal.
She says the impact on her life has been “massive” as she now struggles to work due to fatigue and is traumatised by what happened. She has been told that counselling she needs to deal with her ordeal cannot be accessed via the NHS and has to be funded privately.
Rachael from Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, said: “Psychologically, it has been terrible. I have had nightmares about what happened and have woken up screaming, knowing I could have died. When I feel the pains in my chest, which I still have as a result of what happened, I start to panic in case I am having another heart attack.
“I struggle to work and have to oversee a lot of work rather than doing it myself, which is really hard. I have a successful business but this has stopped me from doing so much. My husband was also traumatised by what happened and he tries to support me as best he can, but it’s really hard. We have had no support – we were told we would have to pay for our own counselling, we couldn’t get it on the NHS, even though this was caused by the NHS.
“I don’t understand it. I don’t think I’ll ever get over what happened. I can never trust that hospital to treat me again, knowing how close I came to dying through their error.”
She was supported in finding answers from West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust and securing a settlement by law firm Slater and Gordon. Katie Payne, solicitor in the clinical negligence team, said: “Rachael is forced to live with lifelong consequences as a result of this shocking incident, in which a doctor who was not qualified to administer adrenaline gave her ten times the recommended dose.
“This could so easily have been a fatal incident we were dealing with. Rachael is haunted by what happened and how close she came to losing her life as a result of putting her trust in medics. Lessons need to be learned urgently at this hospital, and processes put in place to enforce this, to ensure that a wholly avoidable incident of this kind does not happen again.”
A West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust spokesperson told the Mirror: “We are very sorry for the shortcomings in care provided to Mrs Emes and we have sincerely apologised. We carried out a detailed investigation to learn lessons from this incident and implemented a series of actions as a result. This included sharing the latest anaphylaxis guidelines with all clinicians. The incident has also been highlighted in departmental teaching sessions and governance meetings.”