Teenager sent home by hospital died of meningitis 2 days later
A GIRL died of meningitis days after being sent home from hospital when doctors said she had a stomach virus, an inquest heard yesterday.
Isabel Gentry, 16, told her mother: ‘I can’t believe they’re sending me home Mum, I feel so ill.’
Her mother said ‘distracted’ doctors discharged her even though she was barely able to walk to the car.
The Bristol teenager, known as Izzy, had been revising for her AS-levels when she began vomiting and fainting and developed a bad headache.
Paramedics arrived in the early hours of May 18 last year after her mother Claire Booty rang the NHS 111 helpline, but she claimed they had been ‘reluctant’ to spend time examining her as they thought a schoolgirl was unlikely to fall seriously ill.
Izzy was taken to Bristol Royal Infirmary but sent home five hours later, the inquest at Avon Coroner’s Court heard. She was re-admitted 24 hours later when her symptoms worsened and she was ‘thrashing and flailing’ in pain.
Within an hour Izzy was taken to intensive care with suspected meningitis and she died on May 20. The
inquest heard the cause of death was ‘most likely meningococcal meningitis’, but medical staff said her early symptoms were ‘not typical’.
Mrs Booty said she had raised concerns over meningitis, which has symptoms including vomiting, severe headaches, neck stiffness and a rash
that does not fade under pressure. Izzy’s school had sent home a letter about meningitis after a pupil fell ill.
Gary White, the first paramedic to treat Izzy, said: ‘All the time at the back of my head was, “Could it be meningitis?” But there was nothing clinically to indicate that.’
Days before she died, Izzy had tweeted: ‘I have such a bad headache but I need to revise.’
And later, after falling seriously ill, she wrote: ‘Lol [laugh out loud] I knew something was up. Did not expect I’d be rushed to hospital in an ambulance.’
A rapid review by University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust after Izzy’s death found the assessment and treatment were ‘appropriate’ as initial symptoms were ‘not typical of meningitis’.
The inquest continues.
‘She wasn’t given a chance’