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Dying daughter 'fobbed off'
Health staff told mother to stop mollycoddling 18-year-old with fatal deep vein thrombosis Lucy Harvey A TEENAGER suffering severe breathing difficulties collapsed and died of deep vein thrombosis hours after a nurse told her mother to "stop mollycoddling her".
Laura Seward had been unwell since returning from a family holiday to Gran Canaria, and shortly after her return visited her local health centre complaining of breathing problems and being uncharacteristically tired.
A doctor diagnosed a throat infection and asthma and prescribed antibiotics and an asthmatic spray.
But the 18-year-old had an undetected heart defect and had developed blood clots, believed to have been induced by her recent trips abroad.
Laura, a care assistant, took the medication but her condition continued to deteriorate, she started vomiting and became unable to climb the stairs at her family home in Goldthorpe, Barnsley.
Five days later her concerned mother Amanda rang the health centre again and asked for a doctor to come and see her daughter, who had developed a tingling sensation in her fingers, and explained she had no car but was told GPs only visited the terminally ill and housebound.
Ms Seward ordered a taxi for the journey and her elder daughter was seen by a practice nurse.
"She said the throat infection had cleared and there was nothing wrong with Laura," said Ms Seward, a single mother who also has a 13-year-old daughter, Jodie.
"She told Laura she was having panic attacks and told her to blow into a bag if she got breathless.
"The nurse me told me to stop 'mollycoddling' Laura, to be a bit tougher with her and to make her walk and she would be OK.
"You don't question these things because you put your faith in doctors and nurses, they are the medical experts but there was no way Laura could walk anywhere," said single mother Ms Seward.
Hours later Laura collapsed at home. Ambulance paramedics tried to revive her on the way to Barnsley District General Hospital but she was dead on arrival. She died of a pulmonary embolism and deep vein thrombosis (DVT).
Ms Seward said: "The coroner said although Laura had a heart defect the fatal blood clot could have been brought on by the flights.
"I want to know why we were fobbed off the first time we went to the surgery and even worse why we couldn't see a doctor the second time when Laura's symptoms were even worse.
"I believe that if she had been given thorough examinations then the problem could have been detected earlier and something could have been done and she might be alive today.
"I've spoken to the surgery saying there are questions I want answered but they haven't even had the courtesy to phone back. We have been let down by people who should have been looking after Laura's health and welfare and we are all devastated. She was a young girl with her whole life in front of her and she didn't deserve to have it taken away like this"
A spokesman for the Goldthorpe Medical Centre said he could not comment on the case because of patient confidentiality but said the matter would be taken up with Laura's family.
Laura was cremated at Barnsley's Ardsley crematorium on Wednesday.
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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