Doctor's faulty pager delayed help for heart attack victim (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Doctor's faulty pager delayed help for heart attack victim

A CIRENCESTER GP'S faulty pager meant he did not get an emergency call to a retired police officer who was suffering a fatal heart attack, an inquest heard.

Dr Christopher Goldie, of the Phoenix Surgery, was the on-call duty doctor asleep at Cirencester Hospital, unaware that Pamela Jones had twice called for a doctor for her husband Frank, 71.

The doctor only became aware of the emergency when the message service which had tried to page him telephoned to ask why he had not responded.

By the time Dr Goldie, a GP for 17 years, got to Mr Jones' home in Alexander Drive, Cirencester he had already died.

But if he had received the first of his text messages he would probably have arrived before the heart attack which killed Mr Jones.

However, Cotswold coroner Lester Maddrell, sitting at Cirencester, said there was no evidence that Mr Jones would have survived if the pager system had worked properly. He recorded a verdict of death by natural causes.

Pathologist Dr Jonathan Christie-Brown said Mr Jones died from chronic eschemic heart disease and it was quite possible that Mr Jones would have been unaware of the disease until his fatal heart attack.

He said he could not say whether or not the earlier arrival of Dr Goldie would have saved Mr Jones' life.

Dr Goldie told the coroner that if the first message had been received, either he or a paramedic would already have been with Mr Jones by the time he had his fatal heart attack.

But, he said although immediate resuscitation would have been carried out, he believed they would probably have been unsuccessful, given Mr Jones' condition.

Verdict: Natural causes.