NHS Tayside has been cleared of mistreating the family of a dying man.
His daughter claimed she was not told how seriously ill he was and was unable to return from holiday before he died.
The case was investigated by the Scottish public services ombudsman, who has now released his report.
The man, who has not been identified, was admitted to hospital with circulation problems. He was diagnosed as having compressed arteries causing reduced blood supply and emergency surgery was arranged.
However, there was no improvement and his condition deteriorated.
Two days later, medical staff concluded that his outlook was poor and agreed with his family to provide only palliative care.
His daughter, referred to in the ombudsman’s report as Ms C, said the day after the operation her mother had tried unsuccessfully to discuss his condition with a doctor.
The report said: ”Ms C also told staff that she was going on holiday the next day, but said that nobody told her how serious her father’s condition was.”
Her mother only learned the next day that her husband was terminally ill. Ms C was told this when she arrived at her holiday destination, but could not get a flight back until the following day and so did not see her father before he died.
Dismissing the complaint, the ombudsman said: ”We took advice from one of our medical advisers and found that while (the patient) was critically ill, he was stable on the day after his operation.
”We found no evidence that his death so soon afterwards could have been predicted, as his condition did not deteriorate significantly until shortly before his death.
”We also found that staff acted reasonably when they asked (the man’s wife) to come into the hospital quickly and told her of her husband’s terminal condition, as at that point he was deteriorating rapidly.”