Mother of two dies after NHS doctors mistook cardiac arrest for pinched nerve and sent her home with paracetamol
An NHS hospital has paid out £130,000 to a Port Talbot family whose mother died after doctors mistook her cardiac arrest for a pinched nerve.
Mother-of-two Jade Ellis was rushed to A&E in March 2020 after calling NHS 111, experiencing pain in her left arm and severe chest pain.
But despite symptoms consistent with acute heart problems, the 36-year-old man was diagnosed with a pinched nerve and prescribed paracetamol, court documents show.
According to her family, doctors did not perform any blood tests that would have shown she had heart problems.
Instead, she was sent home and later suffered a fatal heart attack.
Mother-of-two Jade Ellis (pictured) rushed to A&E after calling NHS 111 when she began experiencing pain in her left arm and severe chest pain in March 2020. But despite displaying symptoms consistent with acute heart problems, the 36-year-old was simply diagnosed with a ‘pinched nerve’ and prescribed paracetamol, court documents reveal.
Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Local Health Board has now admitted liability for breach of duty and causation.
Bosses apologised for their ‘failure’ and admitted that Mrs Ellis would not have been sacked and would probably have survived if tests had been carried out.
Sandra Bartlett, Ellis’ mother and a retired chef, spoke of the heartbreaking incident, saying her daughter’s “life was taken from her because of a single mistake”.
The 61-year-old added: ‘The doctor didn’t do a blood test. If she had had a blood test, she would have been saved.’
We are a family that has been broken and shattered.
“She trusted that doctor when he said, ‘Go home, you have a pinched nerve.’ She trusted him and came home and died.”
Mrs Ellis, who worked for the travel company Tui, initially suffered from arm pain to working behind the computer all day.
But the next day, around 11pm, she also experienced severe chest pain after eating dinner.
While some warning signs are easy to recognize, such as severe chest pain, others are more vague and difficult to identify.
Mrs Bartlett said Jade thought she was suffering from indigestion but when the pain got worse she called 111, who advised her to call an ambulance.
Upon arrival at the At 1 a.m., doctors took her blood pressure and performed an ECG, a test that records the heart’s electrical activity.
But just hours later she was told to take paracetamol and go home, Mrs Bartlett claimed. The results of both tests were not shared by the family.
In a letter admitting liability, Cwm Taf Morgannwg, of the University Health Board, said: ‘The Health Board accepts that, given her presentation and despite her young age, Mrs Ellis exhibited features consistent with a possible diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome.
“It was not appropriate to attribute her symptoms to a musculoskeletal condition as there was insufficient investigation.”
It was also said that no tests had been done for troponin, a heart protein that can be found in the blood after heart problems.
If that had been the case, Mrs Ellis would not have been discharged from hospital at the time of the cardiac arrest, it added.
‘The Health Council acknowledges that Mrs Ellis would probably have survived if she had experienced chest pain and/or cardiac arrest in hospital.’
At 3:15 a.m., just two hours after she arrived at the ER, her pain began to worsen and she suffered a heart attack.
Doctors did not perform any tests that could show she had heart problems, her family says. Instead, she was sent home and later suffered a fatal heart attack. Pictured is Jade Ellis (left) with her mother Sandra Bartlett (right)
Paramedics were called again and arrived at 3.55am, but she was pronounced dead at home at 5am.
Mrs Bartlett said: ‘The domino effect of what one person failed to do has made our family hell. Her job and her children were her life.
‘She didn’t go out on the weekends or anything, that was the kind of mother she was, even when the kids were older.
‘She loved coming home from work, putting on her pajamas and making tea with the kids.
“Shaking is an understatement. We’re just blown to bits.”
Her family, including children Deanna, 20, and Brando, 23, say they received the £130,000 compensation in July.
Ms Bartlett added: ‘Money doesn’t make it better, but if they can make that part of their life stress-free, that’s something.’
‘I just want them to be able to go on vacation without having to worry about bills.
“Jade is never coming back, and those children will never have their mother back.”
A spokesperson for Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board also said: ‘We extend our sincere condolences to Jade’s family as they come to terms with her passing.
‘As a health council, we have apologised to Jade’s family for the times when her care fell short of the high standards we expect for all our patients. We have learned from this case and have improved care for the future.’
Earlier this year, alarming data revealed that premature deaths from cardiovascular diseases, such as heart attacks and strokes, had reached their highest level in more than a decade.
MailOnline has previously highlighted that the number of under-40s in England being treated for a heart attack by the NHS is increasing.
The number of heart attacks, heart failure and strokes among people under 75 has fallen significantly since the 1960s, thanks to sharply declining smoking rates, advanced surgical techniques and breakthroughs such as stents and statins.
Today, rising obesity rates and associated health problems such as high blood pressure and diabetes are thought to be one of the main causes.
Slow ambulance response times to category 2 calls in England, including suspected heart attacks and strokes, and long waits for tests and treatment have also been cited as a cause.
Despite claims from anti-vaxxers, cardiologists say fears that Covid vaccines have caused a rise in heart problems are completely unfounded.