After MF DOOM’s cause of death was revealed earlier this week, St. James’s Hospital in Leeds has issued an apology to the late rapper’s family for giving him substandard care. According to The Guardian, the Leeds teaching hospitals NHS trust, which operates St. James’s, said there were “missed opportunities” to properly treat his allergic reaction to a blood pressure drug he’d been prescribed.
DOOM’s wife Jasmine Dumile said that DOOM had been going through a litany of health problems including type 2 diabetes, heart failure, and kidney failure, and that after taking a drug prescribed for blood pressure, his lips, tongue, and throat swelled. On October 23, 2020, he was given adrenaline, steroids, and oxygen, appearing to improve, then rapidly deteriorating. After being put on a ventilator, he died on October 31.
During an inquest into the incident, the assistant coroner who examined DOOM said the hospital’s care plan was “not sufficiently detailed” and that when the rapper said the swelling was getting worse, a review should have taken place. While that may not have prevented his collapse or death and his adverse reaction to the drug was rare, the doctors should have noted that allergies were more common in people of African-Carribean descent and smokers — both of which applied to DOOM.
The chief medical officer of Leeds teaching hospitals NHS Trust, Dr. Hamish McLure, apologized to DOOM’s wife, who was following the inquest via video link. “I would like to offer our sincere condolences to Daniel’s family, friends, and fans at this difficult time,” he said. “I apologize that the care he received was not to the standard we would expect. Following his sad death we undertook a serious incident investigation and the report has been shared with Daniel’s family. 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 specialties. We also support the coroner’s recommendation for clearer national guidance and awareness in this area.”