Chris Baker Obituary, Death – At the time of his death in 2019, Christopher Baker, a resident of Romford who worked in the field of information technology, passed away owing to heart failure. After being diagnosed with inherited cardiomyopathy in 2015, he was received therapy at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, where he was under the care of cardiologists. He was undergoing treatment for his condition. Despite the fact that his medical team accepted that he would benefit from being equipped with a device that prevents heart attacks, he was never placed on the waiting list for the device due to flaws in the system. This was the case despite the fact that they acknowledged these benefits. “Christopher didn’t just fall through the system once, but twice, at a time when he needed it the most,” said Heidi Page, who has been his partner for sixteen years. “Christopher fell through the system twice.”
“If you had the chance to meet Christopher, you would never forget him because he was so wonderful, funny, and friendly. He would leave an indelible mark on your heart.” As a result of the fact that we had planned our future together, but now that the opportunity has been taken away from me, I will be responsible for a great deal of things on my own. As a result of the successful conclusion of a medical negligence action, the Barts Health NHS Trust has admitted that it is possible that his death may have been avoided.
The following statement was given by a representative of the trust: “We are deeply sorry for the care that was provided to Mr. Baker, which did not meet our consistently high standards at all times.” The lessons that we have learned from this experience have been extremely helpful, and we have therefore taken steps to ensure that it does not occur again. Chris was given a diagnosis of heart failure in the year 2015, and additional genetic testing proved that his condition was inherited. Chris’s heart disease was inherited.
According to Heidi herself, “At first, we thought that he was just suffering from a severe chest infection.” After everything was said and done, we brought him to the emergency hospital because he was having trouble breathing. Following an extensive battery of examinations, it was ultimately established that he was suffering from cardiac issues.
Due to the fact that he was still somewhat young, it came as a surprise. An implanted cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) is a device that distributes electrical pulses to the heart in order to control it and prevent people from going into cardiac arrest. A referral was made to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital with the purpose of implanting an ICD and preventing cardiac arrest from occurring.
However, he became ill just a few days before the appointment and informed the staff that he would not be able to attend to the hospital for the cardiac test that was due to take place in the month of April 2019. He was supposed to travel to the hospital for the test.
The trust did not take any effort to make preparations for a new appointment, and his consultant was not contacted, despite the fact that the trust had documented the appointment that was canceled. Following that, his primary care physician wrote a letter to the trust regarding another worry. This letter was submitted in the third month after that. It was at that moment that his team at the hospital became aware of the fact that he had not been to the hospital for the heart test.
An further appointment was arranged for the month of August, and following that, it was determined that he would benefit more from having an implanted cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) placed in his body. On the other hand, Christopher was never officially included to the waiting list, and his primary care physician informed him that a decision had been reached to proceed with the cardiac therapy. Christopher was not included in the waiting list.
“We discussed it after his appointment and agreed that it would be a brilliant thing to have the device; we trusted the hospital and we thought that with some slight adjustments to our way of life, we would still be able to have a good life together,” Heidi explained to me. In point of fact, we even made jokes about the scenario in which he would set off the alarms for the security system. On the other hand, we were taken aback by the fact that he was not included on the waiting list. On the other hand, he continued to work and engage in activities that brought him pleasure, such as fishing and spending time with our family and our close circle of friends.
