Mum died after being found under coat in A&E as she waited to see doctors about headache
A mother died after being found unresponsive under her coat in a hospital’s A&E while waiting to see a doctor about a headache.
The 39-year-old woman had been observed by three nurses at Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham on January 19 but was made to wait, Nottinghamshire Live reported.
The unnamed mum of two had attended alone and her name was called multiple times but the hospital assumed she had left when she did not respond.
Medics rushed her to intensive care when they found her unresponsive under her coat but she died in the unit at the same hospital on January 22, three days later.
It is understood that she suffered a fatal haemorrhage while waiting in accident and emergency.
Queen's Medical Centre has started an investigation.
Dr Keith Girling, Medical Director at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "I offer my sincere condolences to the family at this difficult time.
“An investigation, which will involve the family, will now take place and until this has been concluded, we are unable to comment further."
Lilian Greenwood, the local MP, shared her thoughts on LBC after the incident.
“[This is] a disturbing incident,” she said. “My thoughts and condolences are with the family and friends of the mother of two."
Former NHS trust chairman Roy Lilley told LBC: “What will happen now is that the medical director will start an internal inquiry.
“My guess is they will also bring in an independent doctor from another hospital or maybe one of the royal colleges to look at the processes and protocols to see what happened.
“It will be escalated. It is a reportable event. It will go forward to NHS England and they may well want a further independent inquiry. On top of that, the woman will be subject to a coroner’s inquiry.”
Dr Rob Laurenson, Co-Chair of the BMA Junior Doctors’ Committee, told LBC's Tom Swarbrick: “We have a standard in this country that patients are supposed to be seen and decision made whether to admit them to a ward or discharge them home within four hours. This poor woman didn’t even get seen [by a doctor] seven hours in.”