A pensioner who was left stranded outside his house after being sent home from hospital in a taxi has died just days after the ordeal.

Alexander Withnell, 78, was discharged from the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh without his family's knowledge after receiving treatment for fluid on his lungs on August 1.

When he was dropped off by the taxi, he was unable to climb the steps into his home and had to wait outside the house until his wife Isabella, 89, saw him and went down with a wheelchair.

She then fell and injured herself, leaving them both stranded in the stairwell of their home.

Mr Withnell was readmitted to hospital earlier this week and died on Thursday morning.

His son Melvin told STV News on Friday: "I believe if he was kept in hospital on that night, they could have treated him but they just sent him home. Going back in a week later was just too late for him.

"He was so stressed out all week. I'm not saying it caused his death but I think it contributed to it. I believe it's got something to do with it."

Acting NHS Lothian chief executive Jim Crombie previously apologised to Mr Withnell and his family in a statement, describing the incident as "unusual".