Mum-of-two, 30, died coughing up blood and hallucinating after accidental paracetamol overdose in hospital
A MUM who went into hospital with a “chesty cough” died a “traumatic death”, her husband says, after the hospital gave an overdose of paracetamol.
Laura Higginson, a petite woman at five foot one and six stone, was given multiple doses of painkillers in 2017 that were dangerously high for her size.
The 30-year-old passed away of multi-organ failure after ten days in a medically induced coma at Whiston Hospital, Prescot on Merseyside, on April 19, 2017.
The inquest in Bootle, Merseyside, was told yesterday that the doses were given on three consecutive days and were above the recommended limit.
Laura, a trainee solicitor, had a rare and serious genetic condition, called Gitelman Syndrome, which meant she was very underweight.
Doctors only realised the mistake on the fourth day and started treating Laura with an antidote.
The hospital said the overdose had not caused her death.
Husband Antony, 48, a former soldier, claimed he only discovered the dosage error months later when his GP handed him a copy of his late wife’s post-mortem report.
“I read staggered paracetamol overdose and I was like, ‘Oh my God’,” he said, according to a BBC report.
“My world was spinning.”
He has since reported the hospital to the police for manslaughter.
The inquest heard Laura had arrived at the hospital on April 5, after feeling ill and coughing up a brown substance.
Her husband said they had made several trips to the hospital due to her kidney and liver issues.
Laura had to have regular potassium and magnesium infusions to treat her Gitelman Syndrome.
Antony told the court his wife had received the first dose while he was still with her, and it was decided she would be kept in for monitoring.
“She wanted to come home and I was like, ‘You’re in the best place’,” Antony said.
“I wish I’d never done that.”
On the morning of April 7, Laura rang her husband from hospital and told him she didn’t feel well.
Antony told the coroner that his wife had vomited blood and turned yellow following the overdose.
He told the inquest: “She said, ‘My belly is distended like I’m pregnant, I’m yellow and I’m coughing up blood, and they keep making me try to drink and it’s not going down’,” the Mirror reported.
He rushed to the hospital to find his wife “terrified”.
Anthony recalled hearing shouting and sensing “panic” as he went to fetch more sick bowls from the nurses’ station.
“All sorts of doctors rushed in, all wearing scrubs,” he said. “Laura kept saying, ‘I just came in with a chesty cough’.”
How and when to take paracetamol for adults
Paracetamol is often used to treat mild to moderate pain.
It is safe for most people to take and side effects are rare.
You can buy most types of paracetamol from supermarkets or pharmacies. Some types are only available on prescription.
Paracetamol can be used to treat pain, including:
- Headaches
- Toothache
- Sprains
It can also reduce fevers caused by illnesses like colds and flu.
How much paracetamol you can take depends on:
- Your age
- Your weight
- The type of paracetamol you’re taking
- How strong the paracetamol is
Adults can usually take 1 or 2 tablets (500mg) every 4 to 6 hours.
They shouldn’t take more than 4g (8x 500mg tablets) in the space of 24 hours.
Always read the instructions that come with your medicine because dosage and strength of the tablet can vary.
Paracetamol should start to work within an hour.
The effect usually lasts several hours. Don’t take more than the recommended dose if it isn’t relieving your symptoms.
‘Saying goodbye to their mum’
The inquest heard that Laura was moved to intensive care, where her condition worsened.
Her family was informed she likely had sepsis and kidney failure.
She began hallucinating, pulling out her tubes, and was placed in an induced coma.
Antony knew that Laura was dying and drove their children Stephen and Evie to the hospital on April 19 to “say goodbye to their mum”.
He said Stephen had told a nurse: “You said you would do your best for my mum”.
“He tried to climb into bed,” Antony said, according to MailOnline.
“Evie went to the side of the bed and tried to get hold of her hand and was stroking her face.
“It was traumatic.”
Antony said that at 3am he took the children home and at 6am he received a call from Laura’s mum Denise at the hospital to say that she had died.
Despite the death being reported to the coroner, an inquest was never held.
The inquest at Bootle Town Hall revealed that in 2017, emergency department patients were not weighed or asked their weight until they were admitted onto a ward.
Laura’s initial paracetamol prescription was issued while she was still in the emergency department.
The error was discovered on April 7 by Rachel Brown, a junior pharmacist at the time, by which point Laura had already received six doses.
Coroner Simon Holder said at the opening of the inquest: “The doses exceeded that which was permitted and she was transferred into the intensive care unit on April 8.
“Once it was realised that there had been an overdose, she was treated with the appropriate antidote but she continued to deteriorate until her passing on April 19.
“The central issue in this inquest is to determine whether that high dosage of paracetamol helped to cause her death.”
The inquest, which is expected to last seven days, continues.