Overdose victim died in overwhelmed A&E

A RAPE victim who overdosed on diet pills was not given appropriate care because a local A&E was overcrowded, an inquest heard.

Bethany Shipsey, 21, from Worcester, took tablets containing the weight-loss drug in February last year.

She was “not considered a suicide risk” by mental health doctors despite previously taking 14 overdoses.

Ms Shipsey was having treatment for mental health issues, linked to trauma from when she was raped by a previous partner, the start of a week-long inquest at Worcestershire Coroner’s Court heard.

Dr Alireza Niroumand, a junior emergency doctor at Worcestershire Royal Hospital, said he could not transfer Ms Shipsey to the resuscitation room because the department was full. He said he should have consulted the poisons department in order to fully understand a drug he had “never seen before”.

Kirsty South, a senior sister and coordinator of A&E at the time, described the workload that day as “overwhelming”.