DUNFERMLINE

NHS taxi bill for man who died after being sent home by hospital

A BLIND man who died after being left on his doorstep by a hospital taxi was sent a bill for the fare two months after his death.

Kenneth Aitken, 66, collapsed on his doorstep and died hours after being abandoned in his nightclothes in the early hours of the morning.

Mr Aitken was given paracetamol and dropped off at his front door after being discharged from the hospital at 4.30am.

He banged on his door shouting, “please help me” before collapsing in the arms of his wife, Wendy.

It was extremely upsetting. It was dreadful the way my husband died

Mrs Aitken called another ambulance to their home in Rosyth, Fife, and her husband, a former Lib Dem councillor for Dunfermline, was rushed back to the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, but died the next day.

Now, two months after his death, his widow told of her fury after NHS Fife sent him a letter with a £25 bill for the taxi fare, while the investigation into his death was still ongoing.

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