A mother-of-two died after her symptoms of sepsis were mistaken for a muscle sprain, an inquest has heard. Shahida Begum, 39, passed away at Newham University Hospital in east London in 2018, a day after complaining of a red rash, pain in her side, dizziness and coughing.
The inquest at Walthamstow Coroner's Court heard that Mrs Begum felt unwell and visited an out-of-hours GP on 3 July, where she was told it was nothing to be concerned about. Five days later, her condition deteriorated, and her husband took her to Newham University Hospital, where they were directed to the GP service.
The following day, she collapsed and was diagnosed with sepsis, but died from multiple organ failure. Senior coroner Nadia Persaud concluded that 'on the balance of probabilities' Mrs Begum would have survived if she had been sent to A&E following an initial screening on 9 July.
Mrs Begum's husband, Mohammed Rahman, called for 'lessons to be learned', saying: 'It seemed to happen so suddenly and I did not have time to come to terms with what had happened. It is still difficult to think that my wife and the mother of my children would still be alive if her symptoms had been diagnosed sooner.'
The coroner will prepare a prevention of future deaths report, asking Newham GP Co-operative and the NHS Trust to work together to make improvements. A joint statement from the trust and the GP Co-operative said: 'We will work with our partners to learn from this sad event, including raising awareness of how to spot the signs of sepsis.'
