Widower "shaken" by doctors phonecall to dead wife (From Harwich and Manningtree Standard)

Widower "shaken" by doctors phonecall to dead wife

12:00pm Friday 30th July 2010

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)

A WIDOWER has called for a major shakeup in emergency healthcare after receiving an “upsetting” late night call meant for his dead wife.

Ian Love, 62, of Main Road, Dovercourt, was left shocked and shaken when he was called by an out of hours doctor claiming his wife, Jean, had phoned needing emergency medical care.

“I was at home watching tv when the phone rang at about five past ten,” he said.

“A doctor asked to speak to my wife and the first thing I said was you must be joking.

“I was extremely upset and shaken."

The emergency call had been logged by a phone operator for Harmoni, a primary care service which had looked after Mrs Love during her two year battle with cancer.

Harmoni told Mr Love that it was a legal obligation to keep details on file and that the call had been a “terrible mistake”.

Mr Love is now calling for a change in the system to prevent this happening to anyone else.

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)