Wolverhampton mother died after paramedics misread ECG test - inquest

Emma Carrington said her daughter should still be alive today

A woman found dead at home with her daughter sitting on her died from a heart attack after paramedics misread her ECG reading, an inquest has heard.

Lauren Smith, 29, from Wolverhampton, called 111 in January complaining of chest pains and vomiting but was not taken to hospital.

Black Country coroner Joanne Lees said there had been a gross failure to provide her basic medical care.

West Midlands Ambulance Service said it had apologised for what happened.

Ms Smith's family said they were angry and heartbroken by her death.

Her mother Emma Carrington told BBC News she saw her daughter's leg on the bathroom floor and found her granddaughter, then aged two years old, on top of her.

"She said, 'Nanny, mummy's asleep. Mummy won't wake up', so I picked up my granddaughter, flipped my daughter over - I had my granddaughter on my lap - and I did CPR on her..... but I couldn't save her, she'd already gone," she said.

Paramedic Laura Smith (l) and technician Jody Hardwick (r) went to treat Ms Smith

ECG machine detect heart rhythms and irregularities and Ms Carrington said the paramedics "told my daughter she was fine".

"When I read the report, my daughter asked them if she was having a heart attack and they said no," she said.

"I'm angry. I'm heartbroken. Life will never be the same."

The inquest heard paramedic Laura Smith and technician Jody Hardwick carried out a heart trace, which they said was normal.

An extra read-out from the machine stated "abnormal finding for a female aged 18 to 39 - anterior infarct" which indicated a heart attack.

Michael Portman-Hann, representing Ms Smith, said: "The guidance on this specific abnormality and symptom combination is very clear - she should have been taken to hospital and reading the report [after her death] it seems any paramedic should have known that."

Lauren Smith had complained of vomiting and chest pains

The inquest heard both paramedics' training records were up to date.

Coroner Ms Lees said the mother-of-one died of a myocardial infarction after having an ECG which was abnormal and was wrongly interpreted. Her symptoms were consistent with a cardiac event at the time.

She said she would be writing to the paramedic and technician's professional body over the failings.

She said she was also issuing a prevention of future deaths letter to the ambulance service because there appeared to be a lack of recognition for any wider training for the paramedics involved.

West Midlands Ambulance Service said an extensive investigation was conducted and a number of changes implemented based on the findings.

"We will continue to do all we can to try and stop something like this ever happening again," they said.

They added that understanding ECGs was part of training and staff have had extra training on recognising Acute Coronary Syndrome as part of mandatory updates and they would respond to the preventing future deaths order that the coroner had issued.