Paramedic 'did nothing to help dying Derby woman'

Melissa Procter-Blain died of a blood clot

A couple have told an inquest a paramedic did nothing to save their dying daughter after she collapsed with a blood clot in a pub in Derby.

Melissa Procter-Blain, 32, was out with her family in Spondon in July 2009.

Her mother and stepfather told the inquest in Derby the lone paramedic refused to treat their daughter.

But the court heard 999 records showed the woman - who can not be named for legal reasons - did treat Ms Procter-Blain soon after arriving at The Crown.

The inquest heard the mother-of-three, who had needed surgery on her knee after falling over in the same pub in May 2009, collapsed in the toilets on the night she died.

'Safety fears'

Ms Procter-Blain's mother Diane Page told the hearing: "(The lone paramedic) wasn't responding, she was just standing by the door saying she couldn't come in."

Witnesses claimed at the time the paramedic did not enter the pub because she found it too intimidating.

Ms Procter-Blain's stepfather John Page told the inquest that the woman agreed to go in only once the pub landlord "guaranteed her safety".

He said: "He had a word with her and she was saying, 'I'm frightened because it's got a bad reputation', this is what he told me afterwards."

Mr Page said once the paramedic came into the pub, she then refused to help Ms Procter-Blain, saying she could not treat her on her own.

He said: "I begged that girl to help my daughter and she refused each time I asked her."

'Tirade of abuse'

Mr Page denied suggestions by Fiona Butler, the barrister representing East Midlands Ambulance Service and Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, that there was "uproar" and "anger" in the pub as the paramedic arrived.

Miss Butler said: "In this 79 seconds that it takes her to make her way through that tirade of abuse to the side of your daughter, the bits you seem to miss in your evidence and forget are the fact that she positions equipment.

"She attaches heart monitors to your daughter to see if there's any electrical activity and outward force, and during that time she asks the gentleman who is doing compressions to carry on.

"She cannot do it on her own, she cannot do chest compressions and attach a heart monitor at the same time."

Consultant histopathologist Dr Ivan Robinson said a post-mortem examination showed Ms Procter-Bain suffered a clot on her lung probably caused by deep vein thrombosis.

The inquest heard she had been treated two days before her collapse for a similar clot and was given anticoagulant drugs.

Dr Robinson said the cause of death was the lung clot which was likely to be related to the previous ligament damage to the right knee.

The inquest continues.