Ambulance service writes to family of mum whose fatal heart attack was missed by paramedics
The West Midlands Ambulance Service has admitted a series of mistakes in its care for a beloved Wolverhampton mum who died hours after paramedics missed signs she was having a heart attack.
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Lauren Page Smith, 29, from Wolverhampton, had phoned 111 on January 6 last year after suffering from chest pain, vomiting and a sore throat, but paramedics who tested her said there was no cause for concern.
Taking their word for it the young mum got on with her day, but just hours later was found dead on the floor in her home by her own mother, with her beloved two-year-old daughter.
Lauren's mother, Emma Carrington, who discovered Lauren and her granddaughter at Lauren's apartment, told the inquest into her death that the words which left her granddaughter's mouth at the time were 'Mummy won't wake up'.
At the inquest - in November last year - two paramedics from West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) told how they had responded to Lauren's call and carried out an electrocardiogram (ECG) test to check her heart's rhythm and electrical activity, but misinterpreted the results and failed to spot the signs from an auto-diagnostic monitor of ‘abnormal findings for an 18-39 female’, suggesting she was having a heart attack.
A post-mortem examination showed that Lauren died because of a sudden heart attack following a blood clot in the lung.
And now, an official letter has been sent to Lauren's family from the ambulance service which sets out the errors they made.
