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Urgent scan delayed

Sue Carr
6/12/2006

AN ELDERLY woman with suspected spinal injuries waited almost two weeks for a scan.

Margaret Hramiak, 74, was admitted to Tameside Hospital in March this year following a fall at her home on Cheetham Hill Road, Dukinfield.

She was found barely conscious on the living room floor, thought to have lain there for almost 24 hours, and was taken to A&E.

But it was not until 6 April - seven days later - that doctors noticed she could not move her legs and ordered an urgent scan.

An inquest heard that a slot was found six days later but, having contracted pneumonia and MRSA, she was not well enough to have the scan. Her condition gradually deteriorated and she died on 30 April.

A post-mortem report showed Mrs Hramiak, a widowed mother of two, died from emphysema and bronchitis and no spinal injuries were found. But Coroner John Pollard said: "If there is evidence that someone has lost the use of his or her legs and has reduced power in the arms, isn't there at least reasonable grounds to suspect that that person may have a spinal injury?

"Is it then reasonable to wait for 10 days for that to be checked? Why wasn't this done urgently?"

He added that A&E staff "may well have considered perhaps rather more than they did" but that, as she had not injured her spine, it did not make "a jot of difference" to her outcome.

Verdict: natural causes.