Vera Williams, 75, died after a piece of her toast tore her esophagus. Well we are told that danger is everywhere…
A matter of loaf and death
It was in October last year when Vera Williams, from Rhyl-Wales, went to the hospital because of pain caused by what she thought was ingestion after eating her toast.
Complaining of a sore throat, she was sent to A&E, however the medical staff did not notice anything out of the ordinary so Vera was sent home.
Two weeks later, she returned to the emergency room complaining of neck pain. However, she did not say that she had been in constant pain for a fortnight. After being examined by another practitioner, it has believed she had a mild infection and was prescribed antibiotics.
A ‘three in a million’ tragedy
The next day, Vera arrived at the hospital by ambulance, coughing up blood. A scan then revealed that she suffered from a rupture of the esophagus and internal bleeding had reached her intestines.
Unfortunately, Mrs. Williams was also suffering from heart disease, so it wasn’t possible to operate. She died a few days later.
The investigation that followed her death established that doctors were not to blame. Due to the exceptional circumstances in which a tear in the esophagus occurs (estimated at 3 in 1 million), meant that doctors could not have predicted the cause of the problem.
Dr. Hughes said that such cases were extremely rare and she had never come across one in almost 40 years since qualifying as a doctor…which is reassuring! But we still advise you to chew well before swallowing that bite of your sandwich; you never know what might happen!