An inquest has heard that a woman who was found dead alongside her severely dependent teenage daughter had called 999 complaining she could not move, but no ambulance was sent. Alphonsine Djiako Leuga, 47, suffered from sickle cell anaemia and died from pneumonia, while her 18-year-old daughter Loraine Choulla, who had Down's syndrome and learning difficulties, relied entirely on her mother for care.
Nottingham Coroner's Court was told that Leuga called 999 on 2 February last year, saying she was cold and could not move, and gave her address in Radford, Nottingham, before hanging up. During the call, she groaned, requested an ambulance, and said: 'I need help to my daughter' and 'I'm in the bed, I feel cold and can't move'. The bodies were found almost four months later on 21 May.
Susan Jevons, head of patient safety at East Midlands Ambulance Service, said the call should have been referred to dispatch officers. She explained that attempts were made to call Leuga back, but the emergency medical adviser closed the call down, thinking it was abandoned. 'The ambulance didn't go to the address because the emergency medical adviser... closed the call down. So it wasn't visible to anybody within the emergency operations centre,' she said.
The coroner noted she would have to consider whether sending an ambulance 'might have been the difference between life or death' for Choulla. Jevons acknowledged a 'missed opportunity for an ambulance to attend Alphonsine when she requested one'. The inquest also heard that Leuga had been discharged from hospital in late January after a blood transfusion, despite being critically ill, due to her daughter's care needs.
Pathologist Dr Stuart Hamilton said both mother and daughter were likely dead for 'weeks to months' before being found, and he could not rule out that Leuga died on the day of the 999 call. He gave Leuga's cause of death as pneumonia, while Choulla's cause could not be established, but he did not rule out dehydration or malnutrition.
