A man died from diabetes complications after a GP told him to ring 111 when he called three times to ask for urgent help, an inquest has heard.
Joshua Haines, 30, was found dead at his home in Leeds, West Yorkshire, last month, three days after calling a GP fearing he had life-threatening, untreated diabetes.
Mr Haines had raised concerns about his worsening symptoms and suggested he might be suffering from the chronic condition.
After reporting severe dehydration, slurred speech and vomiting, the GP advised him to contact the non-emergency NHS number 111 instead of being seen in person.
An inquest held at Wakefield Coroner’s Court found Mr Haines died from diabetic ketoacidosis, a life-threatening complication tied to undiagnosed diabetes.
Dr Saleh Majid, whom Mr Haines spoke to on three occasions, said he initially believed the symptoms indicated a stomach bug due to persistent vomiting. The GP told the hearing: ‘I could have done things differently on reflection. I have had time to learn and reflect on this tragic case.’
Assistant coroner Naomi McLoughlin said there were ‘missed opportunities’ to get Mr Haines ‘urgent medical help’.
Speaking after the hearing Mr Haines’s sister Jessica Parker, said: ‘We’re deeply disappointed and devastated.
‘All we want from this is for no family to go through what we’ve had to go through.’
Joshua Haines, 30, who died from diabetes after a GP told him to ring 111 when he called three times to ask for urgent help
The inquest heard evidence from a representative from the Yorkshire Ambulance Service, Claire Lindsey.
She said had Mr Haines disclosed his symptoms to the GP, he would likely have been classed as a category two emergency.
In this instance, an ambulance should have aimed to be with him in around 40 minutes.
Daniel Lawton, a senior paramedic, said crews attending would likely have identified the condition, begun rehydration and taken Mr Haines to hospital as an emergency.
In further evidence, an investigating doctor added ‘red flags were missed’ by the NHS GP Extended Access services Mr Haines contacted.
Dr Saleh Majid said diabetes had been considered but agreed it could develop ‘out of the blue’, however, added he could not assess ‘how far down the line he was’ and did not ‘envisage it being at a life-threatening stage’.
Asked if he made mistakes, Dr Majid said: ‘I could have done things differently on reflection. I have had time to learn and reflect on this tragic case.
‘Things will be done differently.’
After reporting severe dehydration, slurred speech and vomiting, the GP advised Mr Haines to contact the non-emergency NHS number 111 instead of being seen in person
Mr Haines, a surveyor, had been fast-tracked to a management position and was seen as a ‘rising star’ according to his sister.
Ms Parker previously told the inquest her brother’s death was preventable, saying: ‘His death has torn a hole through my heart. We cannot understand how he could die so suddenly.’
Peter Skelton, representing Mr Haines’s family, asked the coroner to record a narrative verdict linking the missed opportunities to Mr Haines’s death, and consider a prevention of future deaths report.
Mr Skelton said: ‘The family are very serious that there have been some very serious failures of care with the most extreme of consequences: the needless death of a young patient.
‘They are concerned that Dr Majid didn’t understand the full consequences and they question his competency.’
Concluding, Ms McLoughlin said she identified missed opportunities – including the lack of a face-to-face assessment and no 999 call being made – but could not say if such factors definitively caused Mr Haines’s death.
She recorded that Mr Haines died between March 16 and 19 from diabetic ketoacidosis.
