Legal threat after biker's death ruled an accident

THE parents of a 22-year-old are considering taking legal action against a hospital after a coroner recorded their son's death was an accident.

Richard Rhodes, of Walton Way, Talke, died at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire where he was treated following a road accident.

A three-day inquest into his death heard that while in intensive care he had been given an overdose of potassium by a nurse.

It also emerged he was suffering from an acute viral infection and not meningitis, which doctors were treating him for.

The motorcyclist was admitted to the hospital on August 2, 2007, with head injuries, after colliding with pedestrian Josephine Shepherd as she tried to cross the A34 near to Cross Heath.

He was transferred to intensive care on August 13 where staff nurse Rosemary Walker mistakenly gave him the potassium dosage too quickly because she used a free flow system, rather than an automatic machine.

The drug caused his heart to stop beating for 15 minutes.

Concluding the inquest at Hartshill yesterday, Coroner Ian Smith said he was satisfied the overdose had "minor" or "no effect" on his death.

He said all the medical evidence suggested the cause of Mr Rhodes' death was an aggressive virus Herpes Encephalitis, which had gone undetected by doctors because it was not usually associated with such head injuries.

Instead, they had been treating him for meningitis, which was more common after trauma.

He said: "I have come to the conclusion that he died as the result of the collision on August 2.

"The accident weakened him, traumatised him physically and emotionally, eventually allowing the virus to get in."

Speaking after the inquest, mother Carole Rhodes said: "We are going to seek legal advice about the issue with the potassium, because it quite clearly should not have happened.

"It is not about seeking compensation. When Richard was admitted to that hospital they had a duty of care to him and he was let down.

"Richard was a star. He was very clever. He was like a sponge for anything you told him. He had just got a masters degree from Sheffield University and had a great future ahead of him. He will be sadly missed by all who knew him."

Richard also leaves his father Stephen and sisters Helen, aged 30, and Margaret, aged 36.