The Trust will no longer carry out overnight feeding by nasogastric tube after the death of a man in Wexham Park Hospital. 

London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust has changed how it cares for patients with feeding tubes after a 41-year-old man died while he was awaiting cancer surgery in 2023.

In August 2023, Dilbuhr Pazir was diagnosed with T4 laryngeal cancer. Following consultations with medical professionals, his family felt positive about his prognosis and that with treatment he would have been highly likely to enter remission.

But on 2 September 2023, while awaiting surgery at Northwick Park Hospital in northwest London, Pazir vomited while being fed by a nasogastric tube, running through his nose. The feed entered his lungs, and he suffered a cardiac arrest. After suffering from brain damage, he died at Slough’s Wexham Park Hospital on 19 October 2023.

Although Peter Anthony Murphy, the area coroner for North London, concluded that Pazir had died of natural causes, a Trust witness acknowledged that the patient should have been checked on more frequently.

Strengthening clinical pathways

“It was accepted in the incident report ordered by the Trust and in evidence that staff should have checked on Dilbuhr more frequently because he was a patient with a compromised airway meaning there was an increased risk of him choking,” said Frankie Rhodes, a senior associate solicitor of law firm Leigh Day. 

“Since Dilbuhr’s death, London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust has changed its policy to ensure patients in similar circumstances are no longer placed in side rooms. Feeding by nasogastric tube is also no longer carried out overnight, to minimise the risk to patients,” she continued.

A spokesperson for the Trust said: “We offer our heartfelt condolences to Mr Pazir’s family. Although the coroner concluded his death was due to natural causes and did not criticise the care provided by the Trust, we nonetheless have made some changes to further strengthen [sic] our clinical pathways for patients who have had cancer treatment that has affected their airway”.