Dad dies in bathroom on St Stephen's Day after being 'sent home from hospital with painkillers'
Kevin Burnett, a 47-year-old married father-of-four, died in his bathroom on St. Stephen's Day after 'being sent home from the hospital with painkillers'. His grieving family has launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds for his funeral.
A dad-of-four died in his family bathroom on St Stephen's Day after the hospital he attended for chest pains allegedly sent him home with painkillers.
Kevin Burnett, aged 47, from Stoke-on-Trent, fell behind the door of his bathroom. Firefighters had to attend to cut the door off to get inside, but he had already died.
His heartbroken daughter, Kelsey, described the family as being "devastated" and "in complete disarray." She told StokeonTrentLive: "The day he passed away, he got up early in the morning and then collapsed behind the bathroom door. Because of that, they couldn’t get behind the door so the fire service had to come and cut the door off. By the time they’d got in, he’d already gone.
"He’d been suffering with chest pains for about a week before he passed away. He went to the hospital a few days prior and got sent home with Co-codamol. We don’t know the cause of death. But we do suspect things were missed because he’d been in and out of hospital for most of the year with different issues. We all think it could have been prevented, but we’ve got to wait until the post-mortem examination to find out for sure."
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Kevin leaves behind his three other daughters Lucy, Chloe and Sophie as well as his partner of 20 years, Gemma Burnett, who he married last year. Speaking about her dad's death, Kelsey added: "It’s just been awful. It’s ruined Christmas for us. It’ll never be the same again. But we’re all so glad we got to spend one last happy Christmas together. It was a really good day. I’m just thankful it happened the day after."
The family has since taken to GoFundMe to help them raise the £8,000 (€9,638) needed to cover funeral costs, although the fundraiser is only asking for £3,000 (€3,614). Kelsey continued: "It’s an awful situation because we feel like we’re begging. But we haven’t got the money to just conjure up £8,000 (€9,638) for all the funeral costs. So we’ve just had to grin and bear it.
“We’ve had the funeral director come across and they gave us a rough estimate of £7,000 (€8,434) just for the service and the plot. Then we’ve got to get the gravestone and the flowers and everything else as well. So, all in all, it’s going to be about £8,500 (€10,241). With cash donations and things like that, we’ve managed to raise more than £3,000 (€3,614) so far. We’re very grateful. Lots of people have been donating. Our friends and family, our workplaces, and everyone on the GoFundMe as well.
"Our mum’s now on her own and my youngest sister is only 11, so she’s absolutely distraught. We just try to get through it day-by-day at the moment, but we don’t know why this has happened so we’re still in complete shock. He was a funny bloke, with a brilliant sense of humour. He was all about his family, he did everything for us. He worked hard to provide for us. I don’t know what to say. It’s hard to put it into words.
“It’s heartbreaking. We’re all trying to stick together and keep putting one foot in front of the other for our mum. She’s trying to keep busy, cleaning and things to keep her mind off. She’s devastated.
“Life is never going to be the same without you Dad. You’ve left a big hole in all of our hearts. We’ll never go a day without thinking about you and all the amazing things you’ve done for us. I hope you can see just how loved you were by everyone. We will miss you terribly.”
If you want to donate to the GoFundMe campaign, click here. As of Wednesday morning, the fundraiser has reached £3,155 (€3,801) in donations.
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