Widower says he would 'swap money for wife back' after £1 million settlement

A widower has told ITV News Central he wishes he could swap money to have his wife back, after receiving a one million pound settlement in damages for her death.

Rose Fuentebaja, a 40-year-old mother-of-three from Stratford-upon-Avon, had worked as a nurse for 16 years.

She was hospitalised for a week experiencing numerous blackouts and undergoing multiple ECG tests before she suffered a cardiac arrest and died.

The medical team failed to diagnose her life-threatening irregular heart rhythm, mistakenly attributing her symptoms to a neurological issue instead of a cardiac problem.Following legal action against West Midlands Ambulance Service University NHS Foundation Trust and South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust, a £1 million damages settlement was awarded to her widow, Darrel Fuentebaja.

The legal case was led by medical negligence specialists Hudgell Solicitors.

Rose first became ill on May 23, 2017, when she fainted at home. An ambulance crew performed an ECG test that showed disturbances in her heartbeat but attributed it to anxiety and advised she did not need hospitalisation.

The next day, she experienced pins and needles in her hands and feet and fainted again. This time, she was taken to the hospital, but after an assessment, she was sent home as the cause could not be determined.Over the following week, Rose fainted several more times and was taken to the hospital, where multiple ECG tests continued to show disturbances in her heartbeat. However, she was not placed under continuous heart monitoring and was transferred to the neurological department at Coventry Hospital.

She was found unresponsive by a nurse on June 4 2017 and died of cardiac arrest despite resuscitation attempts.As part of the legal proceedings, West Midlands Ambulance Service University NHS Foundation Trust admitted to breaching its duty of care by failing to identify potential cardiac issues despite the ECG results and her loss of consciousness.

They also acknowledged that Rose should have been advised to go to the hospital on the day of her first fainting incident.South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust admitted that the failure to refer Rose to cardiology and to place her on constant heart monitoring constituted a breach of duty.

They conceded that had these actions been taken, she would have been correctly diagnosed and treated with beta-blocker medication. Even if she had still suffered a cardiac arrest, she would have received immediate defibrillation and resuscitation, which would have likely saved her life.

Rose's husband, left to raise their three children aged 14, nine, and six at the time of her death, described the period following his wife’s death as extremely traumatic.

He emphasised his desire for justice for his late wife, who had been the primary earner for the family, supporting not only them but also her parents and sister in the Philippines.

“As a nurse herself she was really committed to helping others and she helped to save many lives.

"Unfortunately, when the time came when she needed that help, she was failed and it cost her life.

“I went into a deep depression for about a year, and I had a lot of worry at that time. I worried about what would happen to my children if something was to happen to me. I was left feeling very angry and bitter about that, and the mistakes that were made, and that is why I pursued legal action for her. I wanted justice for her.

“The compensation is helpful, but for now I can’t even think about spending it. It’s money that has come from losing my wife. I intend to save it and make sure my children can benefit from it in future years. They lost their mother and so hopefully it can help them in their lives.”

Elizabeth Maliakal, a medical negligence solicitor says: "It's a really tragic and heartbreaking case of a completely avoidable and totally unnecessary death. There were several failures throughout the various contacts Rose had with the healthcare providers from the paramedics through to the hospital.

"There was a failure on behalf of both the ambulance staff and the hospital to find out the correct diagnosis and had they, Rose would be with her family today."

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