A mum who weighed just six stone died from sepsis and multi-organ failure days after she was given “staggered overdoses” of paracetamol by hospital staff.
Laura Higginson, from Widnes, Cheshire, was admitted to Whiston Hospital with suspected pneumonia on April 5 2017, reports the Mirror. The mum-of-two was given the staggered overdoses of paracetamol across a number of days before medics realised their mistake. A month-long inquest heard how the 30-year-old, who was 5ft1 inches tall and weighed 6st, was given doses too high for a woman of her size.
Coroner Simon Holder said that the evidence was unable to determine that the overdoses contributed to Laura’s death from sepsis on April 19. Handing down a narrative conclusion, he said: “On the evidence I have heard, from April 5 to April 7 Laura Higginson was administered excess staggered doses of paracetamol while a patient at Whiston Hospital. It has not been proven, on the balance of probabilities, that this contributed to her death days later.”
Laura arrived at the hospital on April 5 and she was given three 1g doses of paracetamol through an intravenous tube. The same doses were administered on April 6, and on April 7 she was given a final 500mg dose before medics realised they had made a mistake and administered an antidote, the Echo reports.
On April 7, Laura’s condition rapidly deteriorated and she was rushed into ICU, where she was placed in an induced coma the following day. Her condition continued to worsen, and on April 18 her husband Anthony and children Steven, nine, and Evelyn, seven, were called to the hospital to say their goodbyes. She died the following day on April 19 2017, with her cause of death being multi-organ failure with sepsis, cirrhosis and pancreatitis.
The hospital had admitted administering Laura too much paracetamol but said they immediately gave her an antidote and that it had not caused her death. Mr Holder rejected both the hospital trust’s request for a conclusion of death by natural causes as well as the family’s for neglect.
He said: “I have heard the (Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS) Trust’s submission that a conclusion of natural causes would be appropriate. That is rejected.
“I also cannot accept the family’s submission that neglect be recorded as a finding. I must explain… that neglect in coronial law is quite different. The definition of neglect in this context means a gross failure to provide adequate nourishment or liquid, or provide or procure basic medical attention or shelter or warmth for someone in a dependent position.
“I cannot find that the failures by the Trust amounted to a gross failure to provide the basics in medical care. The failures of care do have to be gross, and I don’t find that the failures here – that mistake of administering the paracetamol – amounts to a gross failure.”
He did not write a regulation 28 report for the prevention of future deaths, as the court heard a number of safeguarding measures were put in place at the hospital since Laura’s death. But he said he would write a letter to the CQC, the independent regulator of health and social care in England, as Laura’s family were not aware of the paracetamol overdose until three months after she had died.
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