17 July 2011

VACUUM DIABETIC ULCER TREATMENT bought by Canuck pension funds.

Press Release
for $68.50 per share
1 Apax Partners, CPPIB and PSP Investments to acquire Kinetic Concepts, Inc.
NEW YORK, NY, July 13, 2011 -- A consortium comprised of funds advised by Apax Partners ("Apax"), together with controlled affiliates of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board ("CPPIB") and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board ("PSP Investments"), today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Kinetic Concepts, Inc. (NYSE: KCI) for $68.50 per common share in cash.
KCI is a U.S.-based medical device company focused on the design, manufacture, marketing and service of therapies and products for the wound care, tissue regeneration and therapeutic support system markets. The transaction is valued at approximately $6.3 billion, including KCI’s outstanding debt.
In 2010, KCI reported revenues of $2.0 billion. The company’s products address a broad range of patient needs and are used by healthcare professionals around the world in a wide range of diverse care settings, such as acute care hospitals, long-term care and skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies and wound care clinics.
The consortium plans to work actively in partnership with the management of KCI to further invest in the global medical products sector to expand the company’s core business, develop innovative products and extend into new geographies where significant opportunities exist.
Buddy Gumina, Partner and co-head of the Apax Healthcare team, commented: "We are highly impressed by the culture of innovation at KCI and are excited to work with a business that produces solutions that dramatically improve the lives of many people around the world. Over the years, we have reviewed multiple investments in the medical devices and products industry, having originally identified it as a key growth sector within our overall healthcare investment practice. Based on this experience, we possess a deep understanding of KCI’s business and the markets in which the company operates. We are delighted to have the opportunity to partner with CPPIB and PSP Investments to support the company’s continued growth."
André Bourbonnais, Senior Vice-President, Private Investments for CPPIB, said, "KCI is the market leader in its businesses with strong growth potential particularly outside of the core U.S. market. KCI’s business is well positioned for growth based on global trends such as demographics, including longevity and an aging population. Together with KCI’s management, Apax and PSP Investments, we look forward to building upon KCI’s leading market shares and positioning the company for continued long-term success."
Derek Murphy, First Vice President, Private Equity at PSP Investments, said: "This is an attractive opportunity to acquire a global market leader offering stable core revenues and significant growth opportunities through new products and geographic expansion. Apax brings significant expertise in the healthcare sector, while CPPIB is a like-minded investor with a long-term investment horizon."
The transaction is subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals and other customary conditions. It is currently expected that the acquisition will close in the second half of 2011.
Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC is acting as financial advisor to the consortium. The consortium has secured committed debt financing from Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, BofA Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse AG. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is acting as legal advisor to the consortium. Kirkland & Ellis LLP is acting as
Press Release 2
legal advisor on the financing to the consortium. Epstein Becker is acting as healthcare regulatory counsel to the consortium. CPPIB was also separately advised by Torys LLP. PSP Investments was also separately advised by Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP.
About Apax Partners
Apax Partners is one of the world’s leading private equity investment groups. It operates across the United States, Europe and Asia and has more than 30 years of investing experience. Funds under the advice of Apax Partners total over $40 billion around the world. These Funds provide long-term equity financing to build and strengthen world-class companies. Apax Partners Funds invest in companies across its global sectors of Tech & Telecom, Retail & Consumer, Media, Healthcare and Financial & Business Services. For further information about Apax, please visit www.apax.com.
Apax Partners
Ben Harding / Georgiana Brunner
Tel: +44 (0)20 7872 6401 / 6429
Email: communications@apax.com
Todd Fogarty
Tel: +1 212 521 4854
Email: todd-fogarty@kekst.com
About Canada Pension Plan Investment Board
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) is a professional investment management organization that invests the funds not needed by the Canada Pension Plan to pay current benefits on behalf of 17 million Canadian contributors and beneficiaries. In order to build a diversified portfolio of CPP assets, CPPIB invests in public equities, private equities, real estate, inflation-linked bonds, infrastructure and fixed income instruments. Headquartered in Toronto, with offices in London and Hong Kong, CPPIB is governed and managed independently of the Canada Pension Plan and at arm's length from governments. At March 31, 2011, the CPP Fund totaled $148.2 billion. For more information about CPPIB, please visit www.cppib.ca.
CPPIB
May Chong
Tel: +1 416 868 8657
Email: mchong@cppib.ca
About PSP Investments
The Public Sector Pension Investment Board is a Canadian Crown corporation established to manage investments for the pension funds of the Public Service, the Canadian Forces, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Reserve Force. PSP Investments’ mandate is to manage funds entrusted to it in the best interests of the contributors and beneficiaries of the pension plans and to maximize investment returns without undue risk of loss having regard to the funding, policies and requirements of the plans and their ability to meet their financial obligations. For more information about PSP Investments, visit www.investpsp.ca.
PSP Investments
Mark Boutet
Tel: +1 514 925 5431
Email: mboutet@investpsp.ca
About KCI
Kinetic Concepts, Inc. (NYSE:KCI) is a leading global medical technology company devoted to the discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of innovative, high-technology therapies and products for the wound care, tissue regeneration and therapeutic support system markets. Headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, KCI's success spans more than three decades and can be traced to a history deeply rooted in innovation and a passion for significantly improving the healing and the lives of patients around the world. The company employs approximately 7,100 people and markets its products in more than 20 countries. For more information about KCI and how its products are changing the practice of medicine, visit www.KCI1.com.

16 July 2011

UK: Unknown killer attacks STEPPING HILL HOSP., STOCKPORT (nr Manchester)

Is a new angel of death stalking the wards? Hospital poisoner who killed 3 tries to murder 36

Patients given dangerous insulin and saline combination, murder method used by Beverley Allitt
Police increase hospital security following deaths
11 other victims are recovering in hospital
Hotline set up for concerned patients and their families

By James Tozer, Louise Eccles and Claire Ellicott
Last updated at 10:51 PM on 15th July 2011

In charge: Assistant Chief Constable Terry Sweeney will lead the investigation into the sabotage of saline solution with insulin at the Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport

A hospital poisoner who has killed three patients was trying to murder dozens more.
The saboteur injected insulin into at least 36 vials of saline solution, knowing it could be fatal.
Police do not know whether the killer is a visitor to Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport or an employee there. Security has been stepped up, with the use of searches and entry restrictions.
Detectives believe insulin was deliberately injected into the saline containers which were in a store room used by at least two wards. Fourteen patients fell ill after nurses administered the contaminated fluid through drips.
The poisoner’s first two victims – a 71-year-old man and a 44-year-old woman who had multiple sclerosis – are believed to have been terminally ill.
It is understood the latest, an 84-year-old man who died yesterday, was not. Nurses and other medics who were working on the wards are being spoken to by officers because they would have had the expertise and opportunity to tamper with the glass vials.
Detectives are also looking at whether there have been other potentially suspicious deaths at the hospital. The other 11 victims are recovering.
‘We have someone deliberately contaminating saline in the one place that people should feel they are being most cared for,’ said Assistant Chief Constable Terry Sweeney of Greater Manchester Police.

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‘We will be planning to take the person responsible for this contamination into custody and bring them to justice.’
He stressed it would be exceptionally difficult to prove a link between the tampering and the deaths.
‘This investigation is at a very early stage and we don’t know what effect, if any, the solution has had to the wellbeing of any patients,’ he added.

Guards at Stepping Hill: Police said security has been increased at the hospital

‘We have recovered a number of ampoules of solution and are working closely with the hospital to try to get to the bottom of what has happened.
‘Understandably there is considerable concern within the hospital and the wider community about this.’
The police inquiry is concentrating on the period from July 7, but it could be extended to cover any earlier suspicious deaths.
The hospital contacted police on Tuesday after an experienced nurse reported a higher than normal number of patients on her ward with unexplained low blood sugar levels.
Tests found 36 saline ampoules had apparently been injected with insulin, a hormone which diabetics need to regulate their blood sugar but which can kill if given to non-sufferers who have other health problems.
Police have suggested to hospital chiefs that anyone entering the hospital should be searched and a hotline has been set up for worried patients and families.

Considerable concern: Mr Sweeney said that the developments had worried patients but that his officers were working with staff to get to the bottom of what had happened

Professor Vincent Marks, author of Insulin Murders, said: ‘It’s very hard to prevent the possibility of something like this happening because insulin has to be so readily available in hospitals.But it’s actually not a very effective way of killing people.
‘They would fall into a coma, and these days their blood sugar would be tested and they could be given glucose and would probably recover.

‘This is the one place that people should feel they are being most cared for’

‘Insulin is easily detected, but the hard thing will be proving if it has contributed to the deaths.’
South Manchester coroner John Pollard has asked for any similar deaths at the hospital to be referred to him.
Mr Pollard was the coroner duped by serial killer Harold Shipman. He told the official inquiry into the murders that he had tightened up procedures.
The Stockport case has echoes of that of Beverley Allitt, a nurse who used insulin to kill four children at Grantham and Kesteven hospital in Lincolnshire between 1991 and 1993.
Yesterday worried patients and visitors at Stepping Hill said they feared a rogue health worker was responsible.
Clifford Monks, 84, who was receiving treatment for a stroke, said: ‘It sounds like another Beverley Allitt. It can only be malicious – someone who has got a grudge against the hospital or someone who is insane and sick themselves.’
His daughter Carol Innes, 56, said: ‘What is most worrying is how random it is. They were of all ages and male and female, so whoever did this did not care who they hurt.’
Susan Jones, 57, whose 82-year-old mother Elizabeth suffers from cancer and was discharged from Stepping Hill three days before the deaths, described the events as extremely alarming.
‘Mum was on a lot of saline during her two-week stay so we are very concerned,’ she said. ‘It makes me shudder to think it could have so easily been her.

Killer: 'Angel of death' nurse Beverley Allitt, right, with Sue Phillips and her baby daughter, Becky, who was murdered

Enlarge

‘There should be better measures in place to stop this happening. You expect your loved ones to be safe in hospital. This is very scary for everyone being treated here.’
Dr Chris Burke, chief executive of Stockport NHS Foundation Trust which runs the hospital, said: ‘It was the staff at the hospital who brought this matter to our attention and I’ve asked them to continue to be extra vigilant to help safeguard patients.
‘We have increased security both in terms of access to the hospital and access to medicines and already replaced all saline ampoules across the hospital.
‘We are doing all we can to protect our patients and ensure their safety.’

12 July 2011

Ontario College Phys. & Surgeons EMPLOYEE BENEFITS

from MEDIACORP CANADA Survey Oct. 2010

At $1500 a year forced payment CPSO takes in approx $50,000,000 yearly.

Helps employees prepare for retirement through a defined contribution pension plan and phased-in retirement working options.
Over 65% of management employees are women
Provides tuition subsidies (to $3,000 each year) for courses at outside institutions as well as opportunities for internal and external secondments
Provides new mothers with generous top-up payments to 100% of salary for the first 2 weeks of their leave, followed by a 75% top-up for 26 weeks.
Provides parental leave top-up payments (to 26 weeks) for new fathers and adoptive parents
Offers employees generous referral bonuses when they successfully refer a new candidate ($1500)
Industry: ProfesEstablished: 1866. Full-time employees in Canada: 252. Part-time employees in Canada: 23. New jobs created in Canada last year: 3. Voluntary employee turnover last year: 1.2%. Longest serving employee: 47 years. Workforce engaged on a contract basis: 8%. Number of applications received at this location last year: 1,500. Percentage of employees who are women: 81%. Of managers: 67%. Of directors: 26%. Average age of all employees: 42.

Originally constructed in the 1960s the newly renovated head office features an onsite fitness facility (with subsidized memberships, stationary bikes, shower facilities, walking and running clubs); employee lounge (with comfortable seating, daily newspapers and board games); nap room; religious observance room; secure bicycle parking; free parking; subsidized on-site yoga and pilates classes; free coffee/tea.
Employees at their head office enjoy business casual dress; casual dress Fridays; can listen to music while working; employee sports teams; organized social events. The company-subsidized social committee organizes an annual year-end formal, an annual employee appreciation day, an annual lunch to celebrate its long-serving employees, and a special Christmas party for employees' children. In addition, employees and their families can kick-off the Christmas season watching the city's famous Santa Claus parade from the comfort of the head office building, which is conveniently located directly on the parade route -- with the College providing everyone with free parking, hotdogs and drinks.
Individual salaries are reviewed every 12 months. CPSO also provides new employee referral bonuses (to $1,500 for some positions); defined contribution pension plan with employer contributions (up to 10% of salary); life & disability insurance; retirement planning assistance; discounts on home computers; an interest-free computer purchase plan.
Their health benefits plan is managed by Great West Life. As part of the health plan, the employer pays 100% of the premiums. Employees who work 28 hours per week receive coverage. The waiting period for new employees is 90 days. Employees receive full family coverage on the health benefits plan. The health plan also includes retiree coverage with no age limit. The basic plan includes routine dental; restorative dental; eyecare ($350 every 2 years); traditional medicine coverage; alternative medicine coverage; massage therapy; medical equipment and supplies; homecare; employee assistance (EAP) plan; travel insurance. Lunchtime wellness workshops; small healthcare spending account. The College's family-friendly benefits include maternity and parental leave top-up payments to 100% of salary for the first two weeks, followed by: maternity top-up payments (to 75% of salary for 26 weeks); parental leave top-up for new fathers (to 75% of salary for 26 weeks); parental leave top-up for adoptive parents (to 75% of salary for 26 weeks); health benefits during maternity and parental leave. Additional family-friendly benefits include: flexible working hours; telecommuting; 35-hour work week (with full pay); shortened work week (fewer hours with less pay); reduced summer hours program; compressed work week; earned days off (EDO) program; phased-in retirement.
New employees receive 3 weeks of vacation allowance after their first year. Vacation increases after 5 years on the job. Long-serving employees receive a maximum of 6 weeks of vacation each year. Employees can schedule 2 personal days off each year, as needed. During the Christmas to New Year's holiday break, employees receive an additional 4 days off. Employees receive 12 paid sick days every year. Employees can also apply for an unpaid leave of absence.
Top performing employees may receive personally tailored non-monetary gifts, such as afternoon lunches, flowers, evening dinners and movie passes.
Employees receive tuition subsidies for courses related to their position. (Employers pay up to $3,000 in subsidies). Employees may also receive tuition subsidies for courses unrelated to their current position. (Employers pay up to $3,000 in tuition subsidies for non-related courses). The College also supports ongoing employee career development with: subsidies for professional accreditations; job exchanges; opportunities for internal and external secondments.
Employees receive paid time off to volunteer with their favourite charitable organizations. Employees also receive 2 paid days off to volunteer.

(Club Paradiso)

NEISERRIA GONORRHEOA: ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANT

More Reuters Results for:

"antibiotic resistant gonorrhoea"

Sex infection gonorrhoea risks becoming "superbug"
Mon, Mar 29 2010

Related Interactive

Disaster in Japan

A health worker checks a blood sample in western Cambodia January 28, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Damir Sagolj
By Kate Kelland
LONDON | Mon Jul 11, 2011 4:35am EDT
LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have found a "superbug" strain of gonorrhea in Japan that is resistant to all recommended antibiotics and say it could transform a once easily treatable infection into a global public health threat.The new strain of the sexually transmitted disease -- called H041 -- cannot be killed by any currently recommended treatments for gonorrhea, leaving doctors with no other option than to try medicines so far untested against the disease.
Magnus Unemo of the Swedish Reference Laboratory for Pathogenic Neisseria, who discovered the strain with colleagues from Japan in samples from Kyoto, described it as both "alarming" and "predictable."
"Since antibiotics became the standard treatment for gonorrhea in the 1940s, this bacterium has shown a remarkable capacity to develop resistance mechanisms to all drugs introduced to control it," he said.
In a telephone interview Unemo, who will present details of the finding at a conference of the International Society for Sexually Transmitted Disease Research (ISSTDR) in Quebec, Canada on Monday, said the fact that the strain had been found first in Japan also followed an alarming pattern.
"Japan has historically been the place for the first emergence and subsequent global spread of different types of resistance in gonorrhea," he said.
The team's analysis of the strain found it was extremely resistant to all cephalosporin-class antibiotics -- the last remaining drugs still effective in treating gonorrhea.
Gonorrhea is a bacterial sexually transmitted infection and if left untreated can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy and infertility in women.
It is one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases in the world and is most prevalent in south and southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. In the United States alone, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the number of cases is estimated at around 700,000 a year.
British scientists said last year that there was a real risk of gonorrhea becoming a superbug -- a bacteria that has mutated and become resistant to multiple classes of antibiotics -- after increasing reports of gonorrhea drug resistance emerged in Hong Kong, China, Australia and other parts of Asia.
Experts say the best way to reduce the risk of even greater resistance developing -- beyond the urgent need to develop effective new drugs -- is to treat gonorrhea with combinations of two or more types of antibiotic at the same time.
This technique is used in the treatment of some other diseases like tuberculosis in an attempt to make it more difficult for the bacteria to learn how to conquer the drugs.
Unemo said however that experience from previous degrees of resistance acquired by gonorrhea suggested this new multi-drug resistant strain could spread around the world within decades.
"Based on the historical data ... resistance has emerged and spread internationally within 10 to 20 years," he said.
Asked whether a class of drugs called carbapenems -- known as the most powerful antibiotics yet devised -- might be a last ditch option for treating this new gonorrhea strain, Unemo said there would first need to be trials to assess their potential.
"Carbapenems have never been used for the treatment of gonorrhea so we cannot interpret the data in any reliable or quality-assured way at the moment," he said.
The World Health Organization estimates there are at least 340 million new cases of curable sexually transmitted infections -- including syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia and trichomoniasis -- every year among people aged 15 to 49.

ONTARIO: another CPSO use of paid "Agents provocateurs"

Torstar Network
|

Doc facing sanctions

Day in court. Dr. David Lambert is pictured leaving the College of Physicians and Surgeons building in Toronto. He's pleaded guilty to four counts of professional misconduct involving the licence restrictions but denies allegations he sexually abused a woman by brushing his hand across her breast. Photo by Henry Stancu/Toronto Star

In the shaky, hidden-camera video, Dr. David Lambert has no idea he is the subject of an elaborate sting.
The 59-year-old Mississauga general practitioner looks confident and relaxed, chewing gum as he chats with a woman and her friend about his line of anti-wrinkle skin creams and a $650 collagen injection he could perform right then and there.
The two women are, in fact, private investigators hired by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario to catch Lambert breaching restrictions placed on his medical licence in 2009.
At a college disciplinary hearing that began yesterday, Lambert pleaded guilty to four counts of professional misconduct involving the licence restrictions.
What Lambert denies, however, is that he sexually abused one of the private eyes sent to spy on him, allegedly brushing his hand across her breast.
"This was not a poke or a nudge," said the 40-year-old, sturdy blond woman, whose name must be kept secret under a publication ban ordered by the college. "It was a swipe."
The alleged caress - the only count in dispute - will take up the bulk of Lambert's scheduled three days of hearings.
In 2002, the Mississauga physician, who has an office near the Trillium Health Centre, lost his licence after the college found he had sexually abused three female patients.
In June 2009, four months before the sting, the college reinstated his licence with limits, saying it was only fair he get a second chance.
Yesterday, Lambert admitted he has "squandered" that chance. He has been practicing in Mississauga for the past 31 years.
The sting operation video provides indisputable proof Lambert flouted his licence restrictions - he was not allowed to treat women or minors, could not sell his cosmetic products to patients and was prohibited from performing procedures not covered by OHIP, namely cosmetic ones. He is clearly seen on video filling a syringe with a dermal "filler" after discussing the procedure with the posing patients.
What the video does not show, Lambert's lawyer argues, is the alleged caress of the private eye's right breast. The doctor is accused of brushing the back of his index finger across her nipple as she handed him a patient consent form.
The alleged incident happens just outside the frame of the video shot by a second investigator on a camera hidden in a cellphone. Even in super-slow motion it is inconclusive.
"Could this have been an accidental brush by Dr. Lambert while he was grabbing the papers?" asked Carolyn Silver, one of two lawyers acting on behalf of the college.
"Absolutely no way," the private investigator said.
In an aggressive cross-examination, Lambert's lawyer, Roy Stephenson, pointed out that nowhere in the video does the woman seem to acknowledge the alleged incident, and neither does she bring it up with the other investigator when Lambert leaves the room.
The woman said she was focused on staying in character and carrying out the task she was hired to do.
"Our objective was not for Dr. Lambert to touch me. It was the last thing anybody wanted to occur," she said. "I had a job to do."
Lambert admitted "disgraceful, dishonourable and unprofessional" conduct when he lied to college officials three days after the incident, saying the women hired by the college were sales agents for his skin cream, not prospective patients.
"No comment," Lambert said outside the college's downtown office when asked why he ignored his licence restrictions only a few months after being reinstated.
Yesterday's appearance is actually Lambert's third before the college's disciplinary committee to face professional misconduct allegations of a sexual nature.
Some 20 years ago, he had to explain a series of sexually derogatory and demeaning remarks made to female patients. The committee found him guilty of professional misconduct and his licence was suspended for six months.
In 2000, four women came forward to allege Lambert had sexually abused them, ranging from inappropriate remarks to sexual touching and groping.
Those cases were also bolstered by hidden-camera videos shot by patients. Lambert denied many of the allegations until he became aware of the videos. He then then admitted the offences, according to the committee's 2002 decision.
Lambert's licence was revoked. In 2008, he applied for reinstatement.
With supporting evidence from psychologists and other medical experts, the committee wrote it was "in the public interest and fair to Dr. Lambert" to reinstate his licence subject to restrictions.
"Dr. Lambert was not viewed to be a predator, and has had no problems with alcohol, drugs or criminal activity."
In October 2009, after patients complained to the college Lambert was pushing his skin creams on them and college officials came across his commercial website, it sent in the private investigators.
Lambert is suspended pending the outcome of his disciplinary hearing, which resumes today.

10 July 2011

Quebec Cardiologist Guy Turcotte killed his two children:declared insane.

First-degree murder charges were filed Tuesday in court in St-Jérôme, Que., against Guy Turcotte, 36. (CBC)from CBC & Canadian Press.

A Quebec cardiologist has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his two young children in the Laurentians town of Piedmont.

The charges were filed Tuesday at the St-Jérôme courthouse against Guy Turcotte, 36.

On Tuesday, Turcotte remained in a Montreal hospital where he has been recovering since Saturday from what police say was a self-inflicted drug overdose. ( CAR WASHER FLUID- = METHANOL+ ETHYLENE GLYCOL)

On Saturday, police discovered the bodies of Turcotte's (MULTIPLY STABBED )five-year-old son, Olivier, and three-year-old daughter, Anne-Sophie, in the family home in Piedmont, 60 kilometres northwest of Montreal. (Dr.TURCOTTE FOUND UNDER THE BED).).

Turcotte is a cardiologist at St-Jérôme Hospital, the same hospital where his wife works as a doctor. She was not in town Saturday when the deaths occurred.

The Quebec College of Physicians and Surgeons said it doesn't plan to take any action regarding Turcotte's medical licence until the court proceedings run their course.

Defence Lawyers: GUY & PIERRE POUPART
POUPART,MARQUIS
3431 St.Hubert,
MONTREAL

Defence Expert Witness: Psychiatrist ROCH-HUGO BOUCHARD
Clinic Notre Dame des Victoires
Quebec City.
(Member Canadian Psych. Assn. Working group on Schizophrenia.).

JUDGE: Hon.FRANCOIS BEAUDOIN

Jury: Not Guilty due to insanity.

UK DAILY MAIL: NURSE ERROR causes Lung transplant mistake.

Lung transplant patient dies after 'height error' sees surgeons force oversized organ into her chest

By Martin Delgado And Jo Macfarlane
Last updated at 10:03 PM on 9th July 2011

A lung transplant patient died after medical staff made a mistake in recording the height of the donor – and then failed to report the matter to the coroner.
A specialist nurse fed the wrong figure into the NHS transplant service’s computer system, leading surgeons to force an organ which was too big for the patient into her chest.

The exterior of the Harefield Hospital in west London where a woman died following a mistake by medical staff over a lung transplant

The mistake happened at Harefield Hospital in West London, where a similar incident in 2007 was followed by a two-year period in which managers took no action to suspend the consultant involved.
During that time the consultant bungled a heart bypass on an elderly man who bled to death and then lied to the patient’s family.
After the latest mistake, transplant service officials were told the death had been referred to the coroner but that he had decided not to hold an inquest.
They were also assured the woman’s family had refused permission for a post-mortem examination.
But it later turned out the coroner had not been informed, although he should have been as an inquiry concluded the death was caused by human error.
The woman, who was suffering from advanced bronchial disease, underwent a double lung transplant at Harefield last October. She was 151cm tall and the donor’s height was recorded electronically as 156cm.
The information was stored on the Electronic Offering System – the computerised organ-matching service run by the NHS Blood and Transplant Service (NHSBT).
The right lung was transplanted successfully but the left one had to be compressed to make it fit. And when a member of the transplant team checked the measurements later, it was discovered that the donor had actually been 165cm tall. After initially making progress, the woman developed pneumonia and died two months later.

Surgeons performing a heart transplant operation at the Harefield Hospital

NHSBT, which investigated the incident, said in a report: ‘The transplant surgeon considers that the size of the lungs was a significant contributory factor in the patient’s death.’
A doctor who has also served as a coroner told The Mail on Sunday: ‘It is usual for operation-related deaths to be referred to the coroner. But health care professionals are under no professional or legal obligation to do so.’
Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients Association, said: ‘This must have been a terrible experience for the family.
'When attempts are made to cover up serious incidents like this, public and patient trust hits rock bottom.’

Hamzah Butt aged 16 from Sudbury,an active sportsman who underwent a heart transplant as a 10 day old baby at the Harefield Hospital, north west London. Hamzah is seen here at Harefield hospital Aged three.

Harefield Hospital would not comment on the case.
Anthony Clarkson, assistant director of organ donation at NHSBT, said the service had offered its sincere condolences to the woman’s family.
New checking systems have been introduced and heights are now recorded in both metric and imperial measures.
Neither the surgeon nor the patient in the most recent case has been identified.