A coroner has ruled that a 57-year-old woman who died from a brain haemorrhage after three hospitals refused to admit her would probably have survived if she had received immediate surgery. Mary Muldowney was turned away from St George's Hospital, King's College Hospital, and the Royal Sussex County Hospital due to a lack of beds, despite doctors suspecting a brain haemorrhage following a CT scan.
Coroner Mary Hassell stated that the lack of beds was irrelevant and that Ms Muldowney could have been treated immediately, allowing staff to find a spare intensive care bed later. In a letter to NHS England, she described how a doctor at East Surrey Hospital contacted a neurosurgeon at the Royal London Hospital in desperation, who accepted the transfer under the universal acceptance policy despite having no intensive care bed available.
Ms Muldowney was transferred to the Royal London Hospital and taken to theatre at 4.40pm, but her pupils had become fixed and dilated during the ambulance journey, and surgery did not save her. The coroner concluded that prompt transfer and surgery would probably have resulted in her survival.
Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS England's medical director, expressed deep concerns and issued a safety alert following the death. The case highlights the ongoing crisis in NHS hospitals, with official figures showing many hospitals running at over 95% occupancy, far above the safe threshold of 85%. The Red Cross has warned of a 'humanitarian crisis', and doctors have described hospitals as close to 'meltdown'.
