Shrewsbury hospital: Man's bed death was avoidable, says coroner

The death of a retired police officer who got his head trapped in a hospital bed was an avoidable accident, an inquest has concluded.

Max Dingle, 83, of Newtown, Powys, died after he became stuck between the rails and mattress at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital on 3 May 2020.

The initial post-mortem test gave the cause of death as heart disease.

But a second examination, commissioned by Mr Dingle's son, found entrapment and asphyxiation to be the cause.

After comparing and discussing their findings, both pathologists then agreed "entrapment did play a significant part in the cause of death", the senior coroner for Shropshire John Ellery said.

The inquest was told Mr Dingle's son Phil had asked for the second post-mortem test because "did not accept" the initial findings and had sought the opinion of a pathologist in Australia, where he lives.

Max Dingle, who had been admitted to the hospital with shortness of breath, died 15 minutes after he was found to be trapped, the hearing was told.

Resuscitation was not attempted, despite the pensioner electing for life-saving intervention and having a pulse when he was discovered.

"He suffered a cardiac arrest - from which resuscitation was not attempted - and he died at 10.15am," Mr Ellery said.

On 18 May, Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust was fined £533,334 after admitting failing to provide safe care to Mr Dingle.

At the same hearing, the judge imposed an £800,000 fine in relation to the death of another man - dialysis patient Mohammed Ismael Zaman, 31.

Nobody from the hospital trust was present at the inquest for the hearing, but family members, including Phil Dingle, dialled in.

Concluding the inquest, Mr Ellery said: "Based on all the evidence, the conclusions of this inquest are Mr Dingle's death was an avoidable accident."