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Mum died weeks after fall at home
A bubbly mum who had repeatedly complained to doctors of neck pain and headaches died in hospital after suffering multiple strokes, an inquest heard.
Rebecca Reid, 36, died on June 16, a day after collapsing following her admission to Royal Preston Hospital.
The production worker and mother-of-two became ill after banging her head in a fall at her home in Pear Tree Crescent, Walton-le-Dale, in late April.
An inquest in Preston was told that she made three separate visits to hospital, first to Chorley and South Ribble District General Hospital and later to Preston, between May 31 and June 12.
On each occasion she complained of symptoms including neck pain, headaches and disturbed vision, but was discharged after being treated with pain-killers.
She was admitted to Preston after she collapsed at home on June 15.
Dr Lee Helliwell, consultant in emergency and acute medicine at Chorley Hospital, said that there had been some confusion about Rebecca’s initial fall at home, which she had failed to mention on her first visit.
He said: “On the second visit on June 2 she said she had fallen about six weeks earlier.
“When she presented at Preston on June 8 she complained of head and neck pain and said she had fallen three weeks ago.”
Dr Helliwell said that on one visit to A&E she has been treated for migraine and sent home after her symptoms responded to pain killers.
He said: “An X-ray to her spine showed no fractures and other than residual neck pain she seemed normal and was discharged.”
On her third visit she was given a brain scan, but this also showed no abnormalities.
Dr Jacob Joseph, a neuropathologist at Preston Royal, said that Rebecca was admitted to hospital on June 15 following a collapse at home, and later had a seizure on the ward and fell.
He said: “She was conscious but also confused and disorientated. There was no evidence of any injury from the fall.”
She died at 9am the following morning.
Dr Shuja Punekar, a consultant physician at Royal Preston said that a CT scan carried out several hours after her seizure showed that areas of the brain had died.
He said: “The scan showed evidence of a severe stroke.”
However, he said that even though the delay of about four and a half hours between the stroke and the scan meant that doctors were unable to use clot-busting drugs, this would, ultimately, have made no difference because there was evidence of earlier strokes..
A post mortem showed she suffered a blood clot due to a tear in an artery in her neck, which caused the stroke.
Dr Punekar said: “These abnormalities were consistent with a fall and trauma to the head.”
Recording a narrative verdict Preston’s deputy coroner Simon Jones said that Rebecca died from the injuries she sustained in her fall at home some time around the end of April.
After the inquest Rebecca’s mum, Christine Bird from Bamber Bridge, said: “She was a wonderful mother and a loving daughter - she was my heartbeat.”
Rebecca leaves two sons, Lincoln, 19 and two-year-old Mason.
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Saturday 18 May 2013
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