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An eighty-seven year old lady from Aberdeen died from a fatal kidney infection - just two days after being refused an ambulance.

Her family are now calling for an Investigation.

The lady called helpline NHS 24 - previously NHS Direct, after suffering agonising pain in her lower abdomen. She was told not to call an ambulance.

NHS 24 is manned by nurses who use their judgment to assess caller's symptoms.

A doctor who saw her at home diagnosed trapped wind and told her to take pain killers. She died in hospital 48 hours later from a kidney infection.

A week ago a sheriff ruled the helpline had tragically failed two other critically-ill patients in Aberdeenshire, who might have lived had their fatal conditions not been misdiagnosed.

One - a lady whose meningitis was misdiagnosed. Her symptoms of stiffness in her neck and aching arms and legs were attributed to flu-like symptoms. At hospital she was diagnosed with the brain disease meningitis and she died hours later.

And the other - a man who was seriously ill and died after making three phone calls to the helpline. He was advised to wait to see a doctor wait until his doctor's surgery opened.

Specialist clinical negligence solicitor Jonathan Peacock said "Negligence in elderly care is increasingly becoming a problem. In this case more care and attention and simple treatment could have avoided a fatal misdiagnosis"

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