FAI: Doctors failed to identify Victoria Pickup's illness
A father told a fatal accident inquiry that he was amazed that doctors did not check his daughter's lungs when she took ill with breathing difficulties.
Richard Pickup, 58, told the inquiry at Kirkcudbright on Monday that he was led to believe that his 25-year-old daughter did not have stethoscope used on her.
Victoria Pickup, of Craigadam, Kirkpatrick Durham, near Castle Douglas, died from a rare form of pneumonia only a few days after returning from a family skiing holiday in February 2007.
The inquiry heard that Victoria was seen by two doctors on successive days when she was suffering from severe vomiting, a painful lower back, high temperature, breathing problems and a rash on her back and chest.
Mr Pickup said he was concerned that two doctors had attended her and they never listened to her chest.
Mr Pickup and his wife Celia made a complaint against the Gardenhill Primary Care Centre at Castle Douglas because they were unhappy with the treatment they had provided for their daughter.
They also said they were dissatisfied with the results of the investigation carried out by NHS Dumfries and Galloway after their complaint was made.
Mr Pickup said that on the day his daughter died her breathing was so bad in the afternoon that he moved her near an open window to see if it would help. He had also used a brown paper bag for her to breath into which was suggested by a doctor.
He said: "My wife wrote a letter of complaint practice after Victoria's death and I agreed with the complaint which was made to NHS Dumfries and Galloway.
"I find it quite difficult to understand that the pneumonia symptoms which my daughter had were missed by two doctors and when Dr Ian Carmichael came out, he couldn't do much because he said my daughter's chest was 'closing down.' I was very shocked it was not picked up by the other two doctors
Mrs Pickup told the inquiry that on the day Victoria died she had phoned the practice a number of times and in the afternoon had asked that oxygen should be sent because of her difficulty in breathing.
She said that the first doctor who had seen Victoria, Dr Soeren Schoenoff had asked if she was pregnant and also carried out a urinary test which had proved negative.
She also said that if he said a stethoscope had been used on her daughter, she said he would be lying. She added that she had not seen a doctor using a stethoscope and Dr Schoenoff had only sounded her back but could not go to the lower back because it was too sore.
She said that three different doctors had attended her daughter before she was taken to Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary where they were told that Victoria had died on February 16, 2007.
Mrs Pickup said the family were also dissatisfied and did not accept the results of an investigation carried out by NHS Dumfries and Galloway after their complaint was made against the practice.
She told how her daughter had never been ill in her life but became really ill on Tuesday February 14, 2007, became worse on the Wednesday and then died on the Thursday night as she was being taken to hospital.
She said that Victoria's face was very red, she was vomiting and she was concerned that she couldn't keep anything down. As time went on her breathing because worse, she had a rash on her face and a prickly rash on her back.
She said Dr Schoenoff given her a prescription and had thought it might be gastro-enteritis on the Wednesday and on the Thursday morning another doctor had called at the house after two phone calls and had given her an injection to try and stop the sickness.
Mrs Pickup said she was concerned about the difficulty of getting an appointment and speaking to a doctor.
