Coroner raises concerns over vulnerable man's Hull hospital death
Mr Lodge died on 13 January 2022 from bilateral pneumonia, a day after being admitted to hospital.In his report, Mr Steele said: "No chest examination was performed and there was a missed opportunity to transfer to the intensive care unit."He added: "The treating physicians in evidence agreed that there should have been a high index of suspicion of pneumonia in Mr Lodge's case and that it is one of the leading causes of death for people with learning disabilities."The coroner said that although Mr Lodge was given sedatives, he was not provided with pain relief, despite a family member requesting it.He also said that "no internal investigation or other form of serious incident investigation" was carried out by the trust following the death.
In a statement, Mr Lodge's family said they hoped the trust would "address some of the ways in which Hull Royal Infirmary failed him once he got to hospital".They added: "The inquest findings that the care provided to David was so substandard was shocking."David was a person, first and foremost, but that was forgotten by those treating him."A spokesperson for Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust said: "We would like to extend our deepest condolences to the family of Mr Lodge."We always try to learn where processes could be improved and will be responding to the coroner in due course."Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
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Metro
16 hours ago
- Metro
I bought the online poison that killed my son
The innocuous-looking envelope arrived through the letterbox in a tiny packet that could fit in the palm of your hand. However, the contents that landed on David Parfett's Maidenhead doormat were anything but harmless. Inside the plastic ziplock bag was 50 grams of a lethal white substance. After looking intently at his delivery, David put it back into its Canadian-stamped packaging and stowed it safely in his loft. The poison, postage and packaging came in at around $60CAD (approximately £30). David had purchased the substance to try to understand how difficult it would be to get hold of what killed his 22-year-old son, Tom. He found it disturbingly easy. 'Tom was just a lovely person who saw the good in people,' David, 56, tells Metro. 'One of his teachers described him as having an amazing moral compass. He was an incredibly intelligent man who I'm sure would have had an amazing career. I miss him dearly.' Tom's mother, Julia, described their son as a 'fine young man with an infectious laugh'. Growing up with anxiety, autism, and obsessive-compulsive disorder meant Tom didn't have it easy. His mental health severely faltered when his philosophy degree at the University of St Andrews was disrupted by the pandemic. 'A close friend of one of his best friends took his own life soon after starting university, and that was one of the first times I talked to him about it,' remembers David, who works as a data director. 'He was quite clear that he didn't want to use a method that potentially could go wrong or leave him disabled. He said he wanted to find something that was painless, cheap and reliable. 'I was naive enough to think that it was impossible, and therefore, we had time to help him. I'm pretty sure that he would be here today if he didn't find that online.' David and Julia separated 11 years ago, and Tom lived with his dad for five years as a teen. They spoke regularly and had a close relationship. When Tom started struggling with suicidal thoughts, he sought mental health support, was prescribed antidepressants and moved closer to home. Around the same time, he'd discovered suicide forums online where he was directed to a substance that he was told was effective and painless. In October 2021, Tom, who had also tried to take his own life the month previously, checked into a Premier Inn in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, ingested the small package of poison that he had ordered online and died. 'Grief is quite an individual process, but it is difficult to keep going. It's hard to think about anything else after losing Tom like that. There's guilt and the thought – could we have done any more to stop it,'says David, who shares his story in the new Channel 4 series, Poisoned: Killer in the Post. A year after his son's death, David, who now lives in Twickenham, was going through the police notes to the coroner and noticed that the package containing the poison came from a company run by a Canadian chef, Kenneth Law, the same name he'd seen on the stuff he'd ordered. David went to the police with this information, but because the substance is legal to buy, sell and export, they said they were unable to do anything. He then contacted a reporter called James Beal, who went undercover to request a phone consultation with Law. The Times journalist claimed that during the call, Law told him that he had sent his product to 'hundreds' of people in the UK and that he was doing 'God's work'. He also said he had set up the business after seeing his mother suffer following a stroke – a claim that has not been verified – and urged James to buy the poison so that he has something 'readily available.' Shortly after the story was published, Kenneth Law was arrested. He is now awaiting trial in Canada next year, facing a total of 14 first-degree murder charges and 14 counts of aiding and counselling suicide. His lawyer has said he will be pleading not guilty. At this point, forces across the UK were alerted that packages had been sent out and started visiting addresses, including David's. All of the charges are linked to the deaths of people from across Ontario aged 16 to 36, but he is believed by the Canadian force to have sent more than 1,200 so-called suicide kits to around 40 countries, including the UK. The National Crime Agency are investigating potential criminal offences linked to the deaths of 97 individuals who purchased items to assist with suicide online. An NCA spokesperson said: 'The National Crime Agency continues to investigate potential criminal offences linked to the deaths of individuals in the UK who purchased items to assist with suicide from Canada-based websites. Our investigation explores all viable leads linked to these websites and a Canadian suspect in order to identify evidence of crimes committed in the UK. Specialist officers continue to provide support to victims and families.' Assisting suicide is illegal in the UK and Canada and is punishable by up to 14 years in prison in both countries. Law's websites have been taken down, and he remains in custody. His trial is likely to be held in January next year, where his lawyer, Matthew Gourlay, has said he will plead not guilty. Meanwhile, suspected victims have been found around the globe; in France, Italy, Ireland, Switzerland and New Zealand. In the UK, packages have been found in Cumbria, Surrey, London, Plymouth and the Isle of Wight. As the scale of Law's alleged involvement in vulnerable people's deaths emerged, David wanted to do more to understand and publicise the dangers, which is why he ordered the poison online. He was on holiday on the Isle of Wight when the police knocked on his door a few days after the package arrived. David's youngest son, Harry, answered the door and showed the police to the attic where the poison was stored; they retrieved it and took it off to be destroyed. Following Law's arrest, Interpol had contacted local forces across the globe so officers could visit the homes who'd received the packages. Thames Valley Police coming to retrieve the substance was a 'brilliant result' for David. While charities warn against publicising information about suicide methods, which is why Metro won't name the substance that killed Tom, David wants to highlight how simple it can be to buy online. 'I was just trying to follow Tom's footprints and understand what he went through. It was incredible how easy it was to find, which is just astonishing.' David also disputes the idea that this particular material, which has only been used in suicides in the past decade, provides a painless end, as it was advertised online. 'It is an excruciating death – and that is backed up by medical research. That is by no means painless.' He explains: 'It's important to educate people. I work in IT and have used the internet ever since I could. And yet, before Tom died, I was blissfully unaware that he could go online and find this stuff. He didn't have to go on the dark web or anything. If you've got a kid like my son, you need to be aware of these dangers 'Tom had been on a suicide forum. I didn't even know these places existed. He actively started to chat to a few people, found the information he wanted about how to take his own life and where to buy it. 'If you've got a kid like my son, you need to be aware of these dangers, and then at least you can arguably do something about it. I want to educate families that this is out there, so they can talk to their young people about it. Because these sites are echo chambers. They take what you're feeling and amplify it. It's sick.' And those selling the poisons and making money from suicide websites continue to profit from death, says David. 'It is difficult to understand people's motivations. To actually trade things for suicide as a business, I can't think of many worse acts. Encouraging people to take their own lives is just monstrous and quite beyond comprehension.' Meanwhile, Tom's family is left with grief, devastation, and a yearning to ensure others don't suffer in the same way. Last year, David set up the Thomas William Parfett Foundation to improve online safety for vulnerable people and prevent the supply of poison online. More Trending 'If you look at any product you can buy, a meal from a restaurant or a car from a dealer, there is a duty of care on the people who provide that product to make sure it does no harm. And yet, you can build an internet site that encourages suicide,' he explains. 'It seems quite incredible to me that the internet doesn't have that safety by design. It is hugely frustrating, knowing that there will be people who are not necessarily in the best of mental health, who are looking for advice, but unfortunately, they will find people who encourage them to take their own lives. 'It just seems ridiculous that we allow it. And I am determined to stop it.' A version of this story was first published in May 2025. MORE: Glastonbury headliner branded 'dreamiest boss' after paying for entire crew to have therapy MORE: Is this the new 'Circle of Shame' in 2025? MORE: Boy, 14, arrested after rape near Surrey library
South Wales Argus
6 days ago
- South Wales Argus
Call for ‘Owain's law' to aid brain tumour treatment
Hefin David led a debate on a cross-party motion on July 2 calling for a law named after his Caerphilly constituent Owain James, who died last year. He said: 'Owain was only 34 years old when he was diagnosed with a 14cm, malignant, grade-four brain tumour in his right frontal lobe. His neurosurgeon said it was one of the biggest tumours she'd ever come across in her professional career. 'It was an absolutely devastating blow to Owain, his wife Ellie, who is in the public gallery today, and his daughter Amelia, who at the time was only 18 months old. Until then, Owain had always been a fit and healthy young man.' Dr David said the family turned to private treatment and found a personalised vaccine that used a patient's tumour tissue to educate the immune system to recognise cancerous cells. He told the Senedd: 'The problem here, however, was that Owain needed fresh frozen tumour tissue to develop a sufficient dose of the vaccine. Owain had had 7cm of tissue surgically removed but, unfortunately, only 1cm of this was fresh frozen and could be used.' The Caerphilly Senedd member explained Owain only had three doses of vaccine when it should have been more like 30 doses, but he initially made a remarkable recovery. 'Unfortunately, metastasis caused his tumour to recur elsewhere,' he said. 'This time, the tumour was too aggressive and Owain sadly passed away in June 2024. 'Had there been more, we feel that Owain would still be alive today.' Dr David said fresh frozen tissue is regarded as the gold-standard approach and can be used for vaccines, therapies, research and genome sequencing. He explained: 'This kind of use, though, can only be done when the tumour is fresh frozen, which it wasn't in Owain's case. Owain's law seeks to address this. It seeks to make this the default process for storing surgically removed tissue in Wales.' Jeremy Miles, for the Welsh Government, stressed the need to proceed with care and warned a legal requirement to freeze all brain tumour tissue risks unintended consequences. While the non-binding motion was agreed unanimously, Owain's law is unlikely to proceed without Welsh ministers' full support. But Dr David argued the UK and other countries will eventually introduce such a law as the availability of tissue becomes key to treatment.
The Independent
02-07-2025
- The Independent
How weight loss jabs are saving (and destroying) our marriages and friendships
With just a few days to go before a friend's wedding this weekend, Amanda* has done some last-minute shopping. 'I was planning on wearing a dress with straps,' says the 54-year-old. 'But then I realised I'd get so many comments about how much weight I've lost that I decided to buy another outfit to cover me up more. No one ever said to me when I was big that I shouldn't get any bigger. But now I'm back to the weight I was when friends first knew me, it feels as if my weight loss has brought out a competitive streak in some of them. It makes me feel quite uncomfortable.' Amanda, who lives in London, decided to go on Mounjaro a year ago after weighing herself for the first time in years and realising she was five stone heavier than she had been in her thirties. 'My husband and I love good food, so we'd eat out at least a couple of times a week. My portion sizes were too big, I snacked a lot and also the menopause hit,' she says. 'We'd both complained about our weight but had done nothing about it, so when I heard about Mounjaro, I decided to try it. 'It wasn't just a case of injecting and the weight miraculously falling off. I have had to give up things and be mindful. But it's completely reset my brain when it comes to food and I eat much more healthily, don't drink nearly so much alcohol and my sleep has improved. I'm now on a maintenance dose and feel better than I have in years.' But the Mounjaro effect hasn't just been physical. Amanda's husband David* also started the drug soon after she did, and a year on, their marriage is in a better place. 'Doing it together has helped a lot,' says Amanda. 'David struggled a bit more than me with minor side effects and worried that we're becoming boring because we're no longer the last to leave a party. 'But we still socialise and eat out at restaurants together and I honestly feel like I'm a far calmer and nicer person now. We're both more confident and complimentary of each other too so our emotional relationship has definitely improved.' While Amanda told only a few close friends that she was taking Mounjaro, David was more open with male friends. 'They've all been really positive about his weight loss,' says Amanda. 'But while most of my female friends were really positive at the start, it's got more complicated as time has gone on. One friend for instance has started constantly asking what size I'm wearing or buying the same new clothes as me and then telling me she doesn't look good in them. 'I've ended up wondering if she was happier when I was the fat friend. Who knew that losing weight could cause such a furore?' Amanda isn't alone in experiencing a shift in the long-term emotional dynamics of relationships as she experiences a physical change. And with an estimated 1.5 million people in the UK now taking the new generation of GLP1 drugs, which include Wegovy, Ozempic and Mounjaro, mental health professionals say they are beginning to see the impact in their treatment rooms. 'Weight loss drugs weren't even a thing a couple of years ago, but I'm seeing them impacting relationships more and more now,' says Dr Linda Papadopoulos, a chartered member of the British Psychological Society. 'If two siblings have always looked similar and one suddenly loses weight for instance, it can create a new sense of competition. Or, if two friends are trying to lose weight and one is on the drug but the other isn't, there can be accusations of 'cheating' to reach a lower weight. 'It's a whole new area and I think we'll be seeing more and more of this moving into the future because these drugs seem set to become so widely used.' Secrecy, driven by stigma around the new generation GLP1 drugs and complex attitudes to weight, self-control and the 'right' route to weight loss, is another potential cause of conflict. On internet forums including Mumsnet and Reddit, multiple threads are devoted to discussions between 'secret jabbers' who say judgment from spouses, friends or colleagues is their main reason for concealing their use of medication. Repeated threads deal with how to hide drugs like Mounjaro, which comes in a pen that needs to be kept cool. One user advised building a 'fortress of cheese blocks' at the back of the fridge, another hides the pen in a spare drinks fridge and injects themselves in the garage. One even told a curious husband that the family cat had developed diabetes and needed new medication. Forty-year-old Bethany* is among the spouses who've decided to conceal their use of Mounjaro from their partner. 'I've got some face masks that I keep in the fridge, which I know my husband would never look at, so I hide the pen in there,' she says. 'I know it's terrible, but he'd go on and on if he knew about big pharma just selling a drug you constantly need to buy as a moneymaking thing. 'But for me, it has meant finally taking control of my weight, which had been out of control all my life after trying everything from diet to exercise. 'And while I worried a bit at the beginning about my husband finding out and seeing it as a betrayal of trust, I'm pretty sure now that ultimately he'd let it go. We have a good relationship and I now feel very confident it was the right decision for me.' Bethany started the drug a year ago and, conscious about not losing weight too slowly, took the lowest dose of Mounjaro before upping it slightly and dropping back to a maintenance dose. She has lost 1.5 stone in a few months. 'My husband definitely noticed that I was eating less and losing weight, but put it down to healthier lifestyle choices,' she says. 'He likes that I've lost weight and our sex life has definitely improved because I feel more confident. 'My mum knows I'm on it and thinks it's terrible I haven't told my husband. But what he doesn't know doesn't hurt him.' There's no doubt that the fallout of using GLP1 drugs can be complex, says Dr Rose Aghdami, a chartered psychologist and resilience specialist. 'The initial phase can often have a mostly positive impact on relationships,' she says. 'The couple re-experiences interest in each other and they both enjoy the resulting closeness. 'Or the partner who has recently started having the jabs often feels a renewed zest for life, they start new hobbies and activities, socialise more, and this can result in more shared enjoyment for the couple. But over time, the negative impact of weight loss jabs can certainly take its toll on relationships. 'Food for instance is often important in relationships and can be a way of showing love to each other as well as building up a store of shared special experiences, so the loss of these can lead to upset, arguments, and feelings of guilt. 'Or the now slimmer partner may attract – and perhaps enjoy – increased interest and attention from others and this can evoke insecurities and jealousy within the couple. Doubt and trust issues can emerge, which can be very difficult to live with, for both partners.' So, how do those taking the drugs navigate the new landscape that GLP1s have created? 'Any medication can have emotional as well as physical impact,' says Ammanda Major, clinical quality director, Relate at Family Action. 'We get into habits in long-term relationships, so anything that transforms them is going to have a knock-on effect because things don't exist in vacuums and how we look and our weight are intimately attached to how we see ourselves, and how others see us too. 'But what we do know is that key to any life change – whether it's a job move or weight loss – is about communication and explaining how you're both feeling. That's the key.'
