Fiancee in agony with ulcer dies after doctor says stop over-reacting

A BRIDE-TO-BE collapsed and died of a perforated ulcer after doctors dismissed her stomach pain as a tummy bug and delayed ordering a crucial scan.

Tessa Harker, 21, was twice sent home from Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle despite vomiting and being found screaming on the floor.

Only when she was found collapsed in bed did doctors realise she was seriously ill.

They resuscitated the care home worker and finally carried out a CT scan, which revealed she had a ruptured stomach ulcer.

Surgeons immediately tried to operate but it was too late. Miss Harker died on March 6 last year, six days after her first A&E visit.

Dr Nicholas Shaw, coroner for Cumbria, criticised the hospital saying: ‘More should have been done to establish a diagnosis.

‘Had Tessa been involved in an Missed signs: Tessa Harker attempt to find a firm diagnosis then she would have had a better chance of coming through this.

‘A more vigorous investigation should have been undertaken.’

He recorded a verdict of ‘natural causes’ but crucially said the delays ‘exacerbated’ her case.

Her fiance, gas engineer Robert Powley, 26, told the inquest that Miss Harker first started feeling ill on March 1. He said she had suffered with eating disorders and doctors initially thought her gastric problems were linked to that.

Miss Harker, from Wigton, was sent home from hospital twice with a suspected bug and then gastroenteritis before registrar Shaker Alseifi agreed to carry out a CT scan on March 4.

But when Mr Powley visited he was told a scan was not being done. He then found her scream- ing in pain and covered in vomit in a cubicle. ‘She was on all fours on the floor, screaming,’ he said. ‘We sat and watched her in agony. There was no care at all.’

Miss Harker’s stomach was swelling so he spoke to consultant Frank Hinson to find out why she hadn’t been scanned.

Mr Hinson said he had been a doctor for 20 years, and did not want to expose a young woman to radiation unnecessarily. Mr Powley said: ‘At this point we were becoming incredibly frustrated. He said we were making her out to be more poorly than she was and accused us of overreacting.’

Mr Alseifi said his decision to order the scan had been overruled by Mr Hinson.

He said it was ‘not uncommon for a more senior medic to have a different opinion’.

Miss Harker was finally transferred to intensive care before finally having a scan on March 5.

She underwent surgery but the infection had spread.

When Mr Powley saw her at 6.30am the next day he said: ‘I told myself I was going to lose her.’ She died later that day.

Under questioning from the coroner, Mr Hinson said he ‘could not answer’ why he had not checked Miss Harker’s National Early Warning Score, to spot changes in her condition, when he came on duty.

North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust carried out an investigation which found clear warning signs were missed.

‘There was no care’