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Heart attack dad dies after being given indigestion medicine

12:14pm Wednesday 12th March 2008

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A devastated family is demanding answers after a 39-year-old dad died of a heart attack hours after being given indigestion medicine at Mayday Hospital.

Louis Aurokium began suffering from chest and upper body pain at about 5pm on Wednesday, March 5, while he was helping his brother Steve re-decorate his restaurant.

“We understand Mrs Aurokium is not happy with the care Louis received and when she contacts us we will carry out a full investigation and answer her concerns."

Mayday spokesman

The 39-year-old dad-of-three was taken by Steve to Croydon's Mayday Hospital's accident and emergency ward, where he was seen within five minutes of arriving at about 5.45pm.

He was thought to have been suffering from multiple symptoms and placed on a heart monitor. He was given a host of medicines including pain killers, circulatory drugs and medicine for acute indigestion.

His devastated wife Santa said he was then told to sit in the waiting room until he was called for a chest x-ray. But to her shock he collapsed outside a toilet and suffered a seizure.

Mrs Aurokium said she started shouting for help but no one came for almost 10 minutes. She said a doctor finally arrived and told Mr Aurokium to get to his feet. Another patient was forced to help get him into a bed.

Mrs Aurokium said: "He looked scruffy and unshaven so I think they may have thought he was a drunk. They kept asking him how much he drank and how often, whether it was big glasses or small glasses."

She said he was writhing in agony and had another seizure. Fearing something was badly wrong Mrs Aurokium again shouted for help, trying to catch the attention of medics who were, "laughing and joking about their plans for the evening".

Eventually, after more than 10 minutes, a nurse arrived and immediately put an oxygen mask on Mr Aurokium and pressed a panic button.

The patient was then rushed into a resuscitation room where a doctor tried to revive him.

He was pronounced dead at 9.58pm, a little more than four hours after arriving.

Mr Aurokium's brother Steve said: "These doctors do six or more years of training so they can know everything about what is wrong with a person, so how did this happen?

"I said to the doctor that he had just killed my brother. He wouldn't look at me and he didn't say a word, he just nodded."

The results of a postmortem examination concluded that Mr Aurokium died from natural causes after suffering a massive heart attack.

A Mayday Hospital spokesman said: "We understand Mrs Aurokium is not happy with the care Louis received and when she contacts us we will carry out a full investigation and answer her concerns.

"Until this investigation is complete it would be inappropriate for us to comment any further publicly."

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ric, kingtson says...
3:23pm Wed 12 Mar 08

could the title be anymore misleading?

i think not.

making out like some random guy took a tablet and died as a result.

when clearly the man was on deaths door when he arrived at the hospital.




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sv, Croydon says...
3:45pm Wed 12 Mar 08

Not a fair article at all. He was in the care of the hospital and was receiving medical treatment.

Its really sad when anyone dies, medics don't go into medicine to kill people.

You really should not be so sensational in your headlines.


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Margo Epperson, Ohio says...
4:18pm Wed 12 Mar 08

I think they should of did a Cath. on him and researched his illness more before instead of giving him meds then sending him out to sit and wait. Come on what is with this picture. I feel the medical field did this poor man wrong and caused his death. They didn't do anything to even find out what was causing the problems with his pain and so on. That is why I don't trust doctors myself today they don't care anymore for humans they treat us like we are dogs. I hope they win a big law suit this family against this idiots. What a sad world we live in when doctors don't value a human life anymore.

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David, Croydon says...
4:47pm Wed 12 Mar 08

If the hospital didn't care they wouldn't have given him all the pills stated at the start of the article.

I have to say though that I really can't believe some of the statements in this article. If someone collapsed and a person was screaming/shouting I cannot see how it is possible that no doctor would come for 10 whole minutes. It may have seemed like 10 minutes (was she checking her watch?) as even 10 seconds would seem like ages, but 10 whole minutes??????

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jon, croydon says...
6:14pm Wed 12 Mar 08

When i was badly cut i was taken to May Day the blood was gushing out of the wound and a lot of staff members kept walking past me in this pool of blood. I totally understand what she is going through. The staff there are hopeless

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Paul, London says...
7:35pm Wed 12 Mar 08

Ok, firstly doctors and nurses do care. Otherwise there are better jobs with more pay and less stress. Due to this stress and to keep moral up they will talk to each other to keep each other going. This is in everyone's benefit. I am all for an NHS with smiling happy staff.
The diagnosis of an MI would need investigation some of which may involve the prescription of pain relief medication. Medicine is still an art - some presentations may be atypical and misleading.. I don't work at May Day but in my experience the diagnosis can be difficult - any doctor will tell you we dont know everything about the body yet.. We are basically still playing the odds..
This is undoubtedly a tragic case but we should learn from this and aim to expand our knowledge and support the hospital and its staff.

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Cindy, london says...
8:00pm Wed 12 Mar 08

Baby (louis) I hope you rest in peace. This hospital need to care more about the patients because now we lost him and he was a great person. God bless your family. Love Cindy

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JP, Croydon says...
8:19pm Wed 12 Mar 08

This guy was my friend and never had any major medical problems. Mayday are very slow and lots of the staff there are complacent. He should have been saved by diagnosing him correctly in the 1st place.

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billythefish, mayday says...
11:09pm Wed 12 Mar 08

Margo Epperson wrote:
I think they should of did a Cath. on him and researched his illness more before instead of giving him meds then sending him out to sit and wait. Come on what is with this picture. I feel the medical field did this poor man wrong and caused his death. They didn't do anything to even find out what was causing the problems with his pain and so on. That is why I don't trust doctors myself today they don't care anymore for humans they treat us like we are dogs. I hope they win a big law suit this family against this idiots. What a sad world we live in when doctors don't value a human life anymore.
I hope they win a big law suit this family against this idiots.


Ita idiots like you saying things like this that cause the problem, i hope the next time you are ill they cant treat you as they dont have any money because someone won a lot of money on a pointless case. we live we die get over it.

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Sam Jaffe, Croydon says...
8:18am Thu 13 Mar 08

Well said on both counts 'billythefish'.

Amazed how quickly the uninformed comment on matters they cannot know anything about.

This story should never have been run until the outcome of an inquiry/compensatory hearing (if any) is known

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JP, Croydon says...
8:47am Thu 13 Mar 08

Sam Jaffe and Billythefish (obviously your views are as sensible as your names)- making pointless comments about someone who has died is totally insensitive to their family. On top of that the whole reason that there will be a PROPER enquiry is because the paper ran the story in the 1st place. Obviously you dont yet understand the world or how it works. Next time before making pointless comments try to have something worthwhile to say that will ADD VALUE to the situation and this world.

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s, Croydon says...
12:28pm Thu 13 Mar 08

My sympathies goes to the Aurokium family for the sad demise of Louis.We would never know when and where death would come on.A few months back, one of the most prominent cardiologist who used to work at Mayday died at the same hospital even when the best of doctors were there to try to save his life.So its not fair pointing fingers at the staff until the investigation has been carried out by the hospital.As JP says, we live, we die. Everyone has to leave this world someday.

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Sam Jaffe, Croydon says...
1:17pm Thu 13 Mar 08

JP writes: On top of that the whole reason that there will be a PROPER enquiry is because the paper ran the story in the 1st place.

That's a total nonsense and typical of persons whose only thought is 'compensation.' That is the only reason things like this go to Press.

If there is a complaint about staff/treatment in any British hospital there will automatically be an inquiry, not because a local rag happened to print a story.

I rather fancy I know more about life,what it holds and how others, like you, attempt to manipulate things than you suppose 'JP.'

Because I happened to agree with 'billythefish's' view on this matter doesn't suggest I'm less sensible than morons such as yourself.

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JohnDoe, Surrey says...
2:06pm Thu 13 Mar 08

Once Again Dic you show yourself up for the fool you are. The man was 39 in-case you can't read, hardly knocking on death's door. He suffered a series of minor heart attacks that with the correct surgery could have been avoided. He was a father and a husband and as such all of you should pay respects to his family. Face it, this fairytale bubble life you live in will be popped as soon as something like this happens to you. A 39-year old man suffering from minor heart attacks should not have got to the point of having a major one. He was in hospital fof 4 hours for christ sake are you telling me that he was treated in a competent and timely manner, get bent your about as bright as the hospital staff.

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J. Smith, Norbury says...
5:08pm Thu 13 Mar 08

This guy has suffered a vast amount of stress which to no surprise has lead to death at 39 years. He should now RIP.

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Ashley, West Norwood says...
12:54am Fri 14 Mar 08

This is a vey tragic lost for the Aurokium Family. It is heart broken to hear thing like that. This guy left his wife and three youg boys because of the health systems. I been told a few time by friends and famillies that Mayday Hospital got bad reputation. If you think over it, 4 hours in hospital and could save his life. This is really bad. Ofcourse an investigations should be carry out, this could happen to any family, and then you people will realise, from what Mrs Aurokium and her family been through. It is heart broken. Put yorself in her place and think well, what kind of health systhem we have today, can we trust it. I need to support this family so that this incident to happen again in future.

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JP, Croydon says...
9:45am Fri 14 Mar 08

Glad to see that there are some really sensible people out there still. Youre right John Doe, Ashley and J Smith. The family are all important in this and 4 hours suffering small heart attacks untreated no doubt would have had a cumulative effect on the poor man. Another friend of mine at 42 last year suffered a massive heart attack while he was in hospital feeling unwell. The difference was that staff recognised his symptoms immediately and were trying to limit damage to his health immediately on admission. Thank you for recognising that. Its unfortunate that there are ignorant people out there who have little experience but who feel they are authoritative on these issues. I hope Louis will rest in peace. God Bles you my friend.

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Olivia, Hertfordshire says...
10:06am Fri 14 Mar 08

My sincere condolences go out to the Aurokium Family at this most difficult time. Baby will never be forgotten - may he rest in peace.

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Krissen Veearmootoo (Nephew Of Louis Aurokium), SE London/Catford says...
12:43am Sat 15 Mar 08

Obviously you are all entitle to your own views but if you was in the same situation that my uncle louis was in then your family would go through the same procedures to find out how and why this happen. As medics have 7years of training you would inspect them to be able to notice that someone so close to death and respond in much less than ten minutes as help was merely metres away. this law suit is not in order to gain any money just to make sure something like this doesn't happen again.

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vanessa tonoo, toronto, canada says...
5:44am Sun 16 Mar 08

Dear Baby, i was so glad that i finally met you after 20 years in 2005. Had i not missed my plane that sunday, i would never had the chance to say hello and a proper goodbye. U will always be remembered and loved.
Wenda

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ShirleyValentine, Liverpool says...
3:57am Wed 19 Mar 08

My 32 year old brother died in 1988 after drinking Alka-Seltzer because he thought he had indigestion. He suffered a massive heart attack within 10 minutes. By the time paramedics got there it was too late. My sympathy goes out to this man's family and I hope a full investigation will be done as to whether he received proper care.

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S.A, croydon says...
12:57pm Mon 24 Mar 08

Nice to hear that so many people has something to say about the treatment that my husband received from that hospital. Don't forget that i was there and saw and heard the conversation that went on while i was tryig to get some help for my husband when he was crying in pain, but they didn't care. All this has not been easy for our children or myself, from this day we still can't believe what has happened, my husband didn't deserve this sort of treatment. We will all love and miss him deeply.

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Larry, Green Bay says...
4:05am Fri 20 Jun 08

I had a heart attack last week. My best friend died 5 years ago from a heart attack that was diagnosed as indigestion and an EKG was not even given to him.
Remembering how his case was handled I recognized the warning signs and got to the hospital when I flt nauseous and both arms hurt like hell. I got the best of care and am here to write about it. I have congestive heart failure and will be taking pills until I die, but without proper care I could have died a week ago. Unfortunately the death of my best friend may very well be what saved my life.

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Distraught: Louis Aurokium's family is demanding answers Deadlinepix NO3070 Distraught: Louis Aurokium's family is demanding answers Deadlinepix NO3070

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