Gran choked after staff failed to realise false teeth

Staff failed to see Lillian Hugill (pictured), 84, who had been admitted to York Hospital with a urine infection, was not wearing her bottom set of dentures, leaving her able to chew

The family of a grandmother who choked to death on a sandwich after hospital staff failed to notice she did not have her false teeth in have received a five-figure payout.

Lillian Hugill, 84, was given an egg sandwich with crusts for her meal instead of soft food at York Hospital.

Staff then failed to see Mrs Hugill, who had been admitted to hospital with a urine infection, was not wearing her bottom set of dentures, leaving her able to chew.

The pensioner had battled other illnesses including bladder cancer and her family say they will always struggle to come to terms with how she died in April 2014.

Her son-in-law Mike Garbutt, 63, said: ‘How can someone be admitted to hospital with a basic urine infection and this happen?

‘Lilian was let down at a time of life when people most need good healthcare.’

Mr Garbutt, of Thorganby, near York, said he ‘couldn’t believe’ the hospital gave Mrs Hugill a sandwich when she did not have a complete set of teeth.

Mr Garbutt, along with his wife and Lillian’s daughter Linda Garbutt, instructed Hudgell Solicitors to take action against York Hospital Trust following her death.

Lawyers found medical staff failed to note she was not wearing her bottom set of dentures – despite being prompted to ask the question in the hospital paperwork.

As a result she was wrongly given an egg sandwich with crusts just hours later, said the lawyers.

They said she choked on the sandwich and suffered a heart attack and hypoxic brain injury, starvation of oxygen to the brain, which led to bronchopneumonia – an inflammation of the lungs.

Mrs Hugill, a former print manager at The University of York, died a week later.

Following an inquest in September 2015 coroner Jonathan Leach recorded a conclusion of accidental death.

Mrs Hugill’s son-in-law Mike Garbutt, along with his wife and Lillian’s daughter Linda Garbutt, instructed Hudgell Solicitors to take action against York Hospital Trust following her death

Speaking about the incident, Mr Garbutt said: ‘They kept her comfortable on morphine but she passed away a week later.

‘She was only conscious very briefly during that time and she knew who we were but she couldn’t communicate – it was devastating.’

He added: ‘Something has to be done to improve standards of care and to make sure lessons are learned.’

Lawyers acting on the family’s behalf said the trust admitted that had appropriate care been provided would not have choked and her death would have been avoided.

Solicitor Tasmin White said: ‘This is a really tragic and upsetting case and one where had the very basic standards of care with regards to treating elderly and vulnerable patients been followed, this lady would not have died..’

In an inquest in September 2015 coroner Jonathan Leach recorded a conclusion of accidental death.

A spokesperson for York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said: ‘A settlement has now been agreed in this case.

‘We regret the circumstances of Mrs Hugill’s death and we are sorry for the impact this has had on her family.’

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