Hull hospital wrongly claimed ex-detective who died from bleeding was Covid-19 victim

A hospital wrongly claimed that a retired detective died of Covid-19 instead of a "massive" internal bleed, an inquest heard.

Andrew Kirby's death on Christmas Eve 2020 was initially attributed to coronavirus by staff at Hull Royal Infirmary.

But his inquest heard that the 69-year-old had previously had six negative tests and there was no evidence he had the virus.

After his family insisted on further investigations, a post-mortem examination found he had died of gastrointestinal bleeding, believed to have been caused by medication he had previously had an adverse reaction to.

Mr Kirby's partner Kathy said the family suspected from the outset that the claim he had died from Covid was "nonsense".

She said: "When we were told Covid was being put on the death certificate we knew we couldn’t accept it and we were prepared to fight for the truth to honour Andy.”Mr Kirby's daughter Andrea said: "We could not accept the hospital recording his death as from Covid-19 and we were not prepared to do less for him than he had done for others in his professional life.

"We were compelled to find out precisely why and how he had died and to get the answers we needed in order to finally say our goodbyes."

Mr Kirby joined Humberside Police in the late 1970s and served in Scunthorpe and Bridlington before retiring.

He was diagnosed with lung cancer and underwent a lung biopsy on 9 December 2020. During the procedure his lung collapsed and he was sent to Hull Royal Infirmary for treatment.

After a stay of several days, he was prescribed anticoagulants to prevent blood clots before being discharged.

But he was readmitted on 20 December with abdominal pain and shortness of breath.

A decision was made to stop his anticoagulants due to concerns about internal bleeding, after his medical records showed he had a bleed when taking the drug in 2013.

However, on 23 December 2020 the medication was restarted by a different doctor. Mr Kirby died a few hours later.

'Family's determination'

Coroner Ian Sprakes, who recorded a narrative conclusion, said his bleeding had "in all probability occurred due to the recommencement of the anticoagulation medication".

"The acute and significant gastro-intestinal bleed was causative of Andrew Kirby’s death,” he said.

Mrs Kirby said: "Had communications between the hospital and his family been better it was entirely possible that a discussion could have taken place about his medication and we could have raised concerns, highlighting what had happened when he’d been given them previously."

The solicitor representing the family, Caroline Murgatroyd, said: "But for the family’s determination to find out what happened to Andy, it is likely that his death would have been attributed to Covid and the true facts as to how and why he died would not have come to light."

A spokeswoman for Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust said: “We accept the Coroner’s verdict, and would like to offer our unreserved apologies to Mr Kirby’s family. The trust is committed to learning from this case to ensure that it does not happen again.”

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