MYSTERY still surrounds the death of a popular GP whose medical records went missing after she died unexpectedly during a routine hospital procedure, as her son continues his two-year fight for the truth.
Sugi Davie, who was 65, died in hospital following a course of stem cell treatment for a rare form of cancer called myeloma, which affects the production of healthy blood cells.
The well-liked doctor, of Stainforth Road in Newbury Park, who had worked across Redbridge during her 25 year career, went into Barts Hospital in central London for a routine blood transfusion on December 21 2007. She died the following morning.
A post-mortem revealed the cause of death as bronchopneumonia but her son Paul Davie said an inquest was never opened as he and his family didn't suspect anything was wrong with her treatment until it was too late to request an investigation by a coroner.
Mr Davie, 36, said the hospital's trust told the family it baffled by the death and said the conditions which eventually claimed her life would have been picked up by earlier tests.
The family asked to see Mrs Davie's medical records, but were told that they had gone missing. As a result, they have been unable to uncover the circumstances leading up to the former GP's death.
Mr Davie is now fighting to uncover what happened to his mother and says that so far every agency he has contacted has been unable to suggest a course of action, including the Department of Health and NHS records offices.
He said: “No-one has been able to give us any answers, no-one knows what to do.
“If someone is alive then the data protection is there, but once they are dead then there is nothing. Because she's dead there is none of that protection.
“We have spent the last two years battling to understand how such a flaw can be allowed to exist within the NHS system.
“To date my efforts in getting any justice have proved unfruitful. This is something I want to highlight to the general public so that they can see for themselves what has occurred and subsequently protect them against recurrence.”
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