A coroner said he will issue a Preventing Future Deaths warning against Milton Keynes Hospital after the death of a patient from sepsis.
Dr Alex Blewitt, a leader in his field in IT, died in July 2022 after suffering a cardiac arrest caused by a perforated bowel and sepsis.
An inquest in Milton Keynes heard he had been send home from Accident and Emergency at the hospital three days earlier with antibiotics for a suspected urinary tract infection.
The coroner Tom Osborne said the death of the 48-year-old father of two teenagers was avoidable.
He said: “The doctor who saw and assessed Mr Blewitt in the emergency department did not read the Urgent Care Centre communication that was provided and did not record important factual information in the clinical note. Mr Blewitt was discharged, but returned two days later when suffering with sepsis due to a previously undiagnosed bowel perforation.”
Mr Osborne said he intended to make a Prevention of Future Deaths report.
In April 2021, Assistant Coroner Dr Séan Cummings issued a Regulation 28 Preventing Future deaths warning to the hospital following the death of 47-year-old Nicholas Rousseau after NICE sepsis guidance was not followed by doctors at the hospital.
Lawyer Helen Thompson from Fieldfisher is pursuing a negligence claim against the trust on behalf of Mr Blewitt’s family. She said: “It is unimaginable how painful it was for Mr Blewitt’s widow to hear from the coroner that Alex’s death was avoidable.”
His widow Amy Blewitt said: ‘Alex was in such pain and kept asking the hospital for help but they sent him home. My plea to the hospital is please, please don’t let this type of mistake ever happen to anyone else ever again.’
Alex Blewitt was a Java expert Alex was a well-known writer within the technology space, Java Champion, Eclipse expert, meetup organizer, and more. He was a frequent presenter and attendee at conferences held around the globe.
Alex was a technical leader in the financial industry for over 15 years and worked as an engineer for Apple and IBM at various points in his career. He earned his BA (Hons) in Computer Science from the University of Cambridge and his MSc and PhD from the University of Edinburgh.
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