‘Most Loving’ Mom, 33, Died After Hospital Gave Her Wrong Antibiotics, Leaving ‘Huge Void’ in Her Family

NEED TO KNOW

• Aleisha Rochester died after being given incorrect antibiotics following a routine surgery in London

• The hospital admitted to failing her and has implemented changes to prevent similar tragedies

• Her family remembers her as a devoted mom and is devastated by the loss

A coroner confirmed that a woman died after she was given the wrong antibiotics to treat an infection.

Aleisha Rochester was only 33 years old when she went in to have a routine surgery at St Thomas’ Hospital in London. However, she developed an infection, which, after being incorrectly treated turned into sepsis and led to her death on Aug. 19, 2023, according to reporting by The Independent.

The Mayo Clinic describes sepsis as “a serious condition in which the body responds improperly to an infection.”

Identifying and treating sepsis early is beneficial and helps avoid the body going into septic shock, which can lead to deadly consequences such as dramatic drops in blood pressure and severe damage to various organs.

Rochester, a bank cashier and mom to her son Xavier, was from Croydon, a town in South London. She suffered from a skin disease called hidradenitis suppurativa, which can cause “small, painful lumps under the skin,” per Mayo Clinic.

On Aug. 5, she underwent a procedure to have abscesses removed from her left armpit and groin, The Independent reported.

However, the wound in her armpit became infected. A general practitioner gave her a prescription for penicillin-based antibiotics on Aug. 13, and she received a dose of flucloxacillin via IV at St. Helier hospital the following day.

Rochester’s condition continued to worsen, and she was given another drug “in line with the hospital guidelines” on Aug. 16. As her health continued to worsen, she was admitted to intensive care the following day, where it was determined that she’d gone into septic shock.

“Despite a maximal antibiotics regime, intubation, ventilation and intensive medical support, Ms Rochester continued to deteriorate,” the coroner said in their report. “She suffered a cardiac arrest in the early hours of the morning on the 19th of August, from which she could not be resuscitated.”

Dr Richard Jennings, group chief medical officer for St George’s, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals, commented on Rochester’s death, saying that the hospital system “failed” her “by not giving her the correct antibiotics, with tragic consequences.”

“For this we are extremely sorry and offer our deepest apologies and condolences to her family,” Jennings said, adding that the hospital system “would like to assure her family that we have learned from Ms Rochester’s death, and we have taken multiple steps to prevent this happening again.”

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Rochester’s mom, Lorna, remembers her daughter as an “amazing mummy” and “the most loving, caring and compassionate daughter you could wish for.”

Lorna said that the hardest thing to accept in her daughter’s death was that Rochester wouldn’t get to witness her son Xavier, now 8, grow up.

“The bond between Aleisha and Xavier was evident in every moment they spent together,” she said. “We’ll make sure Xavier knows how much his mummy loved him and how proud she would be of him.”

The grieving mother added that there was now “a huge void in our family.”

Madeline Nugent, a lawyer representing the family, noted that the coroner’s report proved that they were “satisfied that there was a gross failure to provide Aleisha with basic medical care.”

Read the original article on People