This week, the cause of the late British rapper MF DOOM’s 2020 death was revealed. However, the reason the public was able to learn of this was because his wife, Jasmine Dumile, asked for an inquest for the Leeds, U.K., hospital where DOOM was treated, as she alleged malpractice. Now, just a few days after the inquest was reported, The Guardian has obtained an apology made to Dumile by the chief medical officer of Leeds’ teaching hospitals NHS, Dr. Hamish McLure, where accountability is taken for the mishandling of DOOM’s final days.
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“I would like to offer our sincere condolences to Daniel’s family, friends and fans at this difficult time,” McLure said in a statement. “I apologise that the care he received was not to the standard we would expect.”
In the initial report published by LeedsLive Tuesday (July 4), the inquest revealed that DOOM died due to complications from angioedema, a condition that stems from an allergic reaction to taking ACE inhibitors. DOOM began taking the inhibitors due to his battles with kidney disease and high blood pressure, which were affecting his mental and physical health.
The case of angioedema then caused DOOM’s tongue and throat to swell, leading to difficulty breathing. The inquest then revealed that since DOOM’s medical records were in the hands of a new general practitioner he had been seeing, they could not be accessed by the hospital. This led to confusion among the doctors treating him and conflicting reports about his status.
Throughout his time at St. James, DOOM endured kidney dialysis, a rough collapse while seeking medical attention, and eventual respiratory arrest. Due to COVID-19 regulations, DOOM’s wife was not able to visit him until the day he died, October 31, 2020.
The inquest initiated by Dumile has been ongoing all week, and with the hospital’s new apology came new findings. One of the first new revelations made was that a week before his death, DOOM was transferred to the A&E department at St James’ Hospital. Given steroids, adrenaline, and oxygen here, staff at the hospital noticed his condition improve and figured he was stable. It would not take long, though, before his health would worsen and he’d need to be put on a ventilator.
As part of the inquest, the hospital’s assistant coroner Janine Wolstenholme asserted that the care plan laid out for DOOM once he was taken to the A&E department was not followed sufficiently, while also mentioning the rapid decline of his health was “rare.” Wolstenholme also confirmed those in the hospital trust did not consult any experts with knowledge of angioedema.
“Following his sad death we undertook a serious incident investigation and the report has been shared with (DOOM’s) family,” McLure added in the aforementioned statement. “As a result we have put in place a number of actions and the wider learning from what happened is to be used as a teaching topic in a number of different clinical specialities. We also support the coroner’s recommendation for clearer national guidance and awareness in this area.”
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