Tragic story out of Manchester as a young woman died in hospital after being left in a corridor with a disconnected oxygen mask.
Clarissa Street, 24, a University of Manchester graduate from Rochdale, Kent, was thought to be “overreacting” by medics who were meant to be treating her.
Hours later, she died from a pulmonary embolism.
Sociology graduate Clarissa died at Royal Oldham Hospital on August 14, 2024, with the inquest into her death taking place this week.
She was initially brought to hospital in an ambulance, with paramedics suggesting to staff she was “overreacting and having a panic attack”.
Staff Nurse Michelle Neale called for tests but also gave Clarissa a disconnected oxygen mask, which is of course, completely useless.
When asked by the court why she had given Clarissa a mask which was not connected to an oxygen supply, Neale replied: ‘I don’t know’, and accepted that it was an error.
She did, however, claim that it regulated Clarissa’s breathing, and she then handed the patient over to a more senior nurse.
At this point, Clarissa was left in a corridor in A&E for an hour.
The plan was apparently was to return to Clarissa, reassess her, then send her to an urgent treatment centre.
Before this could happen, she was taken to higher care, where her condition worsened and she ended up passing away in the early hours of the morning.
The court heard she had died due to pulmonary embolism with a background of fatty liver disease.
She had previously suffered a provoked pulmonary embolism and deep vein thrombosis in 2017, and had taken blood thinners at various times between then and her death. You would assume the paramedics/hospital were made aware of this at some point?
Either way, it’s crazy that they didn’t run basic checks just because she was “young” and they assumed she was “overreacting.” I get that A&E is in a bad way right now and you can wait for several hours just to have your blood vitals done, and then several more hours to get treatment or a bed, and longer still to get to a specialist ward. But this just seems like a totally preventable death that someone should have seen the red flags for.
RIP Clarissa and thoughts with her friends and family. The inquest continues…
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