A young mother-of-two died after collapsing due to a rare cyst on the brain after repeatedly being sent home from hospital with migraine medication, an inquest has heard.
Laura House, 29, attended Great Western Hospital (GWH) in Swindon three times in as many days in July 2024 with worsening symptoms including debilitating headaches, blurred vision and vomiting.
Her husband Chris said in a statement that she was told her to go home and sit in a ‘dark room’ despite ‘grunting’ incoherently and talking to medical staff ‘like a toddler’.
The 36-year-old said that by the time they arrived at the hospital on the third occasion on July 9, his wife was so weak he had to carry her across the car park.
‘She had vomited each time at the hospital. This time she vomited three times…She was walking like a frail old lady, not a 29-year-old woman,’ the scaffolder recalled.
He said the previously fit pharmacy dispenser struggled to hold herself up and was slipping out of her chair as they waited more than an hour to be seen in the emergency department.
Mr House said he was surprised when medical notes showed that junior doctor Nilesh Singh, who had assessed her that evening, deemed her to be ‘conscious, oriented and not confused’.
‘I am not sure how the doctor could have reached that conclusion. As he was talking to Laura she was unable to properly respond.
The mother of two had previously been fit and healthy before experiencing severe headaches, blurred vision and vomiting in July 2024
Doctors told an inquest into her death in Swindon that the hospital was struggling with a backlog after a power outage earlier that day causing ‘chaos’ in the emergency department
Ms House deteriorated and died on July 11 leaving behind her husband Chris and their two young children
‘She was struggling to string a sentence together. I remember that she was grunting….It was like talking to a toddler or small child,’ his statement read.
The father added that he had asked if a blood test or scan would be carried out, but says he was told that she had a ‘simple migraine and there was nothing else that could be done’ .
‘I recall becoming increasingly frustrated during the assessment as the doctor began saying all the same things that had been said in all the other assessments: that it was a simple migraine and she needed to be in a dark room,’ he added.
‘I remember him suggesting, at one point, that we try find a small, dark space like a cupboard for Laura to sit in to see if this would help her symptoms.’
Dr Singh, who told the hearing the hospital was struggling with a backlog after a power outage earlier that day, claimed the ‘noise and chaos’ in the department were making Ms House more uncomfortable.
‘After the examination and discussion, we decided it would be better for her to get home,’ he added, saying he found ‘no acute neurological symptoms’ in his assessment.
However, the doctor admitted: ‘In normal circumstances, I would have considered a CT scan if it was easily available and would have been done at the same time.
‘If everything would have been empty, I would have considered it,’ he added.
It was the third time she had been assessed at the hospital after first attending the urgent care centre on July 7 and again on the morning of July 9.
Each time she was sent home without a scan or further investigation, the inquest heard.
Having returned to her home in Cricklade, her husband says her condition deteriorated the following day and she appeared to drift in and out of consciousness.
He said shortly after 3pm she began ‘dribbling and spitting as she was breathing’ and then became blue and an ambulance was called as Mr House performed CPR on his wife.
She was rushed to Southmead Hospital for emergency surgery but died the following day on July 11 from global hypoxic brain injury caused by a rare colloid cyst.
Mr House was left with the devastating task of telling their children aged just two and six at the time that their mother had passed.
Dr Lisa Daniel, a senior doctor in charge during her third visit, said that she had not been aware that Ms House had presented at the hospital twice before.
She said, in a statement read to the hearing in Salisbury, that had she been alerted to this, a CT scan would have been considered.
Peter Dobinson, a consultant at the GWH NHS Foundation Trust who reviewed an internal investigation into the death added: ‘A CT scan…may show evidence of raised intracranial pressure.
‘I can’t say definitively that it would’ve picked it up. There’s a good chance that it would’ve, but that is speculative.’
In the time since Ms House’s death, the Trust has implemented Jess’s Law which urges medics to re-evaluate patients who attend three times with the same symptoms.
The family’s legal team at Stewarts urged HM Area Coroner for Wiltshire and Swindon, Mr Ian Singleton, to deliver a narrative verdict with a finding of neglect.
While lawyers for Great Western Hospitals NHS Trust said a ‘natural causes’ verdict would be suitable as the inquest has not heard any evidence as to potential outcomes of earlier intervention.
The inquest was adjourned for a verdict to be delivered at a later date.
