A man tragically passed away after his severe health condition was ‘overlooked’ by doctors for hours, according to his devastated wife. Daniel Jordan, aged just 35, succumbed to an aortic dissection, a grave situation where the main artery of the body develops a tear. His wife alleges that despite being taken urgently to New Cross Hospital A&E and receiving a half-body CT scan, the medical staff failed to identify the problem.
The couple claims he was then moved to Russells Hall in Dudley under the assumption that his condition was ‘vascular’ and that he would receive more appropriate care there. However, it wasn’t until six hours later, after the aortic dissection was finally recognised, that he was transferred back to New Cross for surgery, reports Birmingham Live. This critical delay, his wife Kelly Jordan contends, resulted in his leg being deprived of blood circulation for over six hours.
Daniel, who had hypertension but was otherwise ‘healthy’, underwent emergency surgery where his leg was amputated and his aorta repaired. Regrettably, these measures were insufficient to save him, and he died approximately 12 hours post-operation. In a poignant revelation, his three year old daughter now questions her mother why she doesn’t have a daddy like other children do.
Kelly, who had been with Daniel since their teenage years, expressed that her world has been turned upside down since his passing on July 2, 2023. “We were inseparable from the day we got together until the day he died,” she reminisced. “Everyone used to say that there was no Dan without Kelly and no Kelly without Dan.”
Kelly has been left devastated and jobless, having to fill the role of both parents for her cherished daughter, who was only 18 months old when her father passed away. “The image of him being in a coma with a lost leg will never leave my mind,” Kelly disclosed.
She shared the heart-wrenching moments when her daughter questions why she doesn’t have a father like others do and dreads the day she’ll have to explain the potential hereditary nature of his health issues. “She’ll ask to see her daddy in pictures and videos.” Kelly finds it incredibly difficult to tell her daughter that “Having to explain to her that her daddy is in the sky is so hard. I’ll have to explain it all to her when she’s older and tell her that she could be at risk too, as his issues could have been hereditary.”
After his passing, the hospital conducted a root cause analysis before an inquest took place over a year later. On the outcome of the inquest, Kelly asserts: “Dan’s death was put down to multiple organ failure and dissection of the aorta and not medical negligence. We left without any answers. They said it was a tragic and complex case.”
Joe Chadwick-Bell, Group Chief Executive of The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, extended his sympathies: “We would like to offer our sincere condolences once again to Mrs Jordan and her family.” He added, “Due to an ongoing legal claim, we are unable to comment further.”