A coroner has concluded that the hospital where Kevin Campbell died could have done no more to save him, despite a ‘missed opportunity’ and ‘lack of curiosity’ in the way he was treated during his last days.
Manchester area coroner Zak Goldberg heard that the former Everton and Arsenal player had lost 10 stone in weight between January and May last year, with the most rapid drop-off, in the weeks leading up to his death, caused by a rare heart infection which Manchester Royal Infirmary (MRI) admitted should have been detected sooner.
The hospital’s consultant physician Professor Peter Shelby told the inquest: ‘Why was it that a man who a few months before was a picture of health had so suddenly deteriorated? There should have been a little more curiosity.’ Prof Shelby said the hospital could also do better in examining changes in patients’ weights which saw Campbell, who weighed 19 stone when first admitted in January last year, drop to barely nine stone when re-admitted four months later.
But the picture painted of Campbell by the three-hour inquest hearing was one of a desperately ill man, who had suffered two strokes and was suffering from severe heart and kidney problems in the months before he died.
A final blood test carried out on him, after medics had decided there was nothing more they could do to save his life, found a previously undiagnosed infection of the heart valve, endocarditis. But the coroner ruled that spotting it earlier would not have saved his life. The condition required open heart surgery that Campbell would, in any case, have been too ill to survive.
Prof Selby said: ‘We are not talking about simple surgery. People would have concluded that surgery was nothing other than taking a fatal option.’
A coroner has cleared the hospital that Kevin Campbell died in of blame in an inquest
The former Arsenal and Everton forward passed away in June last year at the age of 54
His final blood test, when it was decided no more could be done to save his life, found a previously undiagnosed infection of the heart valve
The first signs that Campbell had grave medical problems came in the January, by which time he had suffered a stroke, caused by a blood clot on his heart. This was causing his kidneys to fail and liver damage. Medics investigated whether some kind of viral infection might have caused this, perhaps picked up on the ex-player’s recent holiday in Papua New Guinea, though that proved not to be the case.
‘When Mr Campbell came in, he was already desperately unwell,’ MRI consultant pathologist Dr Robert Henney told the inquest. ‘Many people would not have survived to point he did. His physical fitness allowed him to get that ill before being admitted.’
He was taken to intensive care but after dialysis treatment his condition improved, and he was discharged in early March. ‘He told the physios that he was managing ok and looking after himself in the ward,’ Dr Henney said.
Campbell’s sister, Lorna, attending the inquest remotely, asked Dr Henney how her brother could have been discharged and sent home without the ‘care package’ that ought to have been necessary, given that he lived on his own, ‘without any other support.’ Mr Goldberg said that the question was not admissible as the hearing was focussed purely on the former Everton captain’s death.
Though medics had expected Campbell to continue his recovery after discharge, it was after visiting a cardiology clinic, in a wheelchair, that his health deteriorated again – a result of the heart valve infection, it later turned out – and he was readmitted to the hospital.
He was receiving palliative care and subject to a ‘do not resuscitate’ order there when he came under Dr Henney’s care. Dr Henney consulted with the hospital’s medical director and called together medics to discuss whether there was not something they might yet still do.
In part, there was an awareness that Campbell was ‘a well-known figure’ and that there would be scrutiny if he died, the medic said. ‘It wasn’t because Kevin was a celebrity that I needed to do the blood test.’ he added.
‘This was a man who had been a fit and well 53-year-old and was now dying. I needed absolute clarity about what was happening.’
Campbell became a cult hero on Merseyside during a six-year stay at Everton from 1999-2005
He spent seven years on the books at Arsenal, having graduated from the academy in 1988
Though the blood tests confirmed a hopeless position, Campbell did not return to palliative care, receiving medication until he died a few days later. After his death, aged 54, the hospital triggered a level 5 ‘critical incident’ investigation, reserved for cases where failure might have caused a death.
But the hospital’s inquiries later saw that downgraded to level 2, reflecting its views that no harm was done to Campbell by any oversight.
Concluding that Campbell died of natural causes, the coroner said: ‘There is clear evidence that there was a delay in diagnosing the endocarditis and that had been acknowledged as a fact. But that missed opportunity and delay were not contributory to Kevin’s death, on the balance of evidence. That can’t be distilled into the question of how Kevin died. Kevin died from a naturally occurring illness which very sadly reached its natural end,’
