Doctor lay dead in Birmingham hospital storeroom for two days

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-46650700

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The body of a junior doctor lay undiscovered in a hospital storeroom for two days, an inquest has heard.

Eduard Zigar, 25, took his own life at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham less than a week after beginning his placement, the city's coroner's court heard.

There had been difficulty identifying him as missing because hospital staff were looking under the wrong name.

The coroner recorded a verdict of suicide.

In a statement, the hospital trust described the death as a "tragedy" and said it hoped the conclusion of the inquest would "bring some sense of closure".

'Massive shock'

Dr Zigar, a Lithuanian living in Wolverhampton, was a locum at the Birmingham hospital, allied to the upper gastro-intestinal surgical team.

He was last seen on the site's CCTV at about 19:00 BST on Saturday 25 August and found in the ambulatory care unit at about 22:00 on 27 August.

Dr Zigar had begun to work at the hospital on 20 August and appeared "detached" and "quiet" on 25 August, colleagues said.

Consultant John Whiting told the hearing that he found Dr Zigar to be a little nervous, which he said was not unusual and gave him no concerns for his mental well-being.

When he did not turn up for his shift on Sunday, staff were not initially worried as they assumed there had been a rota error.

When Dr Zigar's friends and family became concerned, the locum agency contacted the hospital but, because of entering his name into the system incorrectly, it could find no trace of him working there.

Since the death, the hospital has introduced a supervisor for the locum team.

Dr Zigar's mother described him as "tolerant and loving" and said his death had come as a "massive shock".