Sick teen told she had a ‘boring’ virus dies after doctors failed to spot she had a lethal meningitis infection and denied her life-saving antibiotics – as her parents say her ‘whole future was taken through no fault of her own’
A talented teenage artist died when doctors misdiagnosed her meningitis as a ‘boring’ virus.
Mia Ginever, 19, died at Frimley Park Hospital in Camberley, Surrey, when doctors delayed life-saving antibiotics due to ‘conscious bias’ towards her initial diagnosis.
The terrified straight A student heartbreakingly begged her mother, Mel, 47, to ‘not let me die’ as she was rushed to hospital with a searing pain in her head and red marks on her skin that would not fade. Later she developed a stiff neck and became delirious.
Doctors and nurses rushed around ‘beautiful and vibrant’ Mia as she deteriorated in front of a helpless Mel, but it would be five hours before medics would finally assess her.
The registrar refused to do blood tests or give her antibiotics and instead administered a ‘patch’ of fluids and pain relief.
Mia Ginever, 19, died at Frimley Park Hospital in Camberley, Surrey, when doctors misdiagnosed her meningitis due to a ‘boring’ virus
It took doctors eight hours to administer antibiotics to the straight A student, but by then it was too late and Mia died in intensive care two days later in March 2022.
Bacterial meningitis, which requires urgent hospital treatment, affects the membranes in the spinal cord and brain
A new doctor on shift eventually ordered blood tests that showed she had meningitis B and finally gave her some antibiotics — eight hours after she arrived at the hospital.
It was now too late and Mia was put into an induced coma and died two days later in intensive care. A few months earlier, she had announced to her parents that she wanted to become an organ donor.
A week earlier, in March 2022, the talented student made plans to travel and applied for summer internships with dreams of becoming an interior designer.
When sore throat, aches and headaches got worse over the week, she went to A&E in Frimley for a check-up.
The doctors told her she had a ‘boring’ virus and could go home, but Mia’s pain got worse and she went back to hospital with Mel when she noticed the red marks on her body wouldn’t fade.
‘Mia’s entire future has been taken from her, through no fault of her own. She had so much to give to the world and was ready to embrace her life,” Mel said the times.
She added: ‘We trusted the doctors to make the right decisions. If I had any inclination that she would die, I would have screamed.”
An inquest into her death begins today at Surrey Coroner’s Court in Woking and is expected to end on Friday.
Frimley Park Hospital has admitted doctors failed to properly assess Mia for meningitis and sepsis, and failed to follow NHS protocol to give antibiotics within an hour of arriving at hospital for a second time.
Mia’s father, Phil, 60, was shocked by the state of affairs when he arrived at hospital.
He described the care for his beloved daughter as ‘so bad’ and said the pain of Mia’s death will never go away.
‘After her death we were allowed to take her handprints and hair, just like a newborn baby. But then she was all alone. “I should have stayed and waited,” he said.
The hospital carried out a serious incident investigation, which found that Mia had already developed meningococcal sepsis when she arrived at Frimley Hospital for the second time.
It found that ‘conscious bias’ in the initial diagnosis of a viral infection had influenced doctors’ decisions.
Since Mia’s death, the Ginevers have raised £70,000 for the Meningitis Research Foundation and her parents have raised awareness of the meningitis B vaccine.
Mel said doctors told her “it was one of the most serious and rapid-onset cases they have ever seen.”
Six months after Mia’s death, Mel wrote a heartfelt tribute to her daughter on LinkedIn.
She said: ‘Mia had quick wits and life and soul, but she was also a ‘home bird’ and still lived at home. We miss her beautiful smile and infectious laugh immensely every day.”
A week earlier, the talented student made plans to travel and applied for summer internships with dreams of becoming an interior designer
A serious incident investigation conducted by the hospital found that ‘conscious bias’ in the initial diagnosis of a viral infection had influenced doctors’ decisions
Deborah Nadel, legal director at Fieldfisher, is representing the family at the inquest and in an ongoing negligence claim.
She said: ‘The pain for Mia’s family to hear that her death could have been prevented by prompt treatment is unimaginable.
‘Hospitals need to improve the way they learn from mistakes and the family hopes the coroner’s inquest will bring this to light.’
Mia’s organs have helped save the lives of four people and Mel described them as ‘lucky… to have a part of our precious girl giving them second hope’.
MailOnline has contacted Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust for comment.