A RETIRED engineer, who died within two days of being admitted to hospital, may have lived if he had been admitted to hospital a week earlier, a coroner's court heard.

An inquest into the death of 75-year-old Jack Finn, of Portland Street, Blackburn, heard that, despite being seen by five GPs in 10 days prior to his death, his rare condition remained undiagnosed and he died less than three days after being rushed to A & E at Blackburn Royal Infirmary.

Dr David Grimes, consultant physician and medical director of Blackburn hospitals, told the inquest at Blackburn town hall he had not been able to diagnose Mr Finn's illness when he saw him briefly on November 20 at Blackburn Royal Infirmary, the day before his death.

And he said that had Mr Finn been seen a week earlier at the hospital, he would have had a '50/50' chance of survival.

Dr Grimes said: "I saw Mr Finn as part of my morning ward round. He presented with a very strange illness which I did not understand."

He added: "I did not realise that the illness was progressing so quickly. Had he been admitted a week earlier we would have had that window of opportunity open to us. I cannot say whether he would have lived, but he would have had a 50/50 chance. When I saw him on November 20, his death was imminent, but had he been seen on November 13, for instance, it may have been less likely."

Mr Finn's son, David James Finn, said: "I still feel like something could have been done. The outcome may have been the same, and he may have still died, but he was not admitted to hospital soon enough."

Mr Finn had been suffering from weeping soars on his legs and severe back pain, but doctors had failed to diagnose quickly enough that he had septicaemia on his legs, caused by an infection in his heart as a result of a heart attack 30 years earlier.

After the inquest, Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley coroner Michael Singleton, who recorded a verdict of natural causes, said: "It would seem that with what we now know, that the back pain this man suffered was a red herring."

He added: "It seemed to me that Mr Finn was very unfortunate. It appears he had a rare condition which would have been diagnosed and treated with antibiotics had he been in hospital longer. The doctors were trying to work out both the problems with his leg and back pain, when they were two separate conditions."