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Ailing girl texted pix of herself dying
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Friday, 30 July 2010 23:58
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LONDON – A young woman spent her last hours desperately texting photos of herself slowly dying to her mother as she lay suffering on a hospital bed – being ignored by doctors who thought she was just having a mild infection.
Jo Dowling, 25, sent over 40 messages to her mother and best friend including pictures of a deadly rash spreading across her body as her life ebbed away.
Jo could have been saved with the proper antibiotics.
She was rushed to Milton Keynes Hospital, 72km north-west of here, where doctors rejected the diagnosis believing instead her illness was a mild infection caused by her cystic fibrosis.
Doctors abandoned Jo on a observation ward and gave her headache tablets and fluids as they failed to spot the purple rash spread over her arms, hands and legs.
As the hours passed terrified Jo took photos of her rash on her mobile phone and sent them to her mum and best friend describing her condition as "getting worse".
The meningitis bug left her in septic shock choking and coughing as fluid filled her lungs and she died four hours after her last text message - just 14 hours after arriving at hospital.
Her family yesterday accused the hospital of "neglect" after an inquest at Milton Keynes Coroners' Court heard doctors failed to spot she was suffering 'blood poisoning shock'.
Coroner Tom Osborne criticised the hospital for a "communication breakdown" that led to her death as tragically a simple dose of penicillin and antibiotics would have saved Jo's life.
The inquest heard there were only two doctors on duty to cover the entire hospital the night Jo died.
In an immediate reaction to the tragedy published in The Sun, readers questioned the parents' priorities when they knew she was ill.
Said one reader: "Why was she texting so much to her mother when she should have been with her at her bedside? The mother or father should have demanded a second opinion or moved her to a different hospital."
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Last Updated on Saturday, 31 July 2010 00:24 |
