AN ISLE of Wight doctor wrongly diagnosed organ failure and advised end-of-life care be given to an elderly patient — after seeing her on video call.

A senior GP at Cowes Medical Centre has apologised to the family for their experience.

The family has called for GPs to "carry out the duties they are paid to do and not hide behind their computer screens" and said their mother could have lost her life over the misdiagnosis.

The matter came to light when the woman's son, Michael Gough Cooper, wrote a letter to the Daily Telegraph about the diagnosis.

His mother had been in a care home when she was diagnosed with terminal liver failure and advised to have end-of-life care, by a doctor on a video call.

However, after treatment at St Mary's Hospital for a 'simple infection' the 92-year-old woman, herself a former district nurse, made a full recovery.

The story was taken up by the Sunday Telegraph's health correspondent Lizzie Roberts.

The son has now submitted a formal complaint to the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The doctor said he couldn't visit the patient because she had Covid.

The family say they are unaware if she actually was Covid positive at the time but say the care home had ample PPE.

To get a second opinion, the patient had to be taken to A&E, and spent four days in hospital where she made a full recovery.

Cowes Medical Centre told the Sunday Telegraph its GPs are visiting patients face to face when it is clinically needed.

A senior GP for the practice said: "We are sorry to hear of the family's experience. When a patient, their relative or carer, shares concerns like this we always offer to discuss the matter further.

"For our patients who are residents in care homes, we are in regular contact with the home (and) always support patients if the care home raises a concern relating to their health."