An inquest has heard how Bethan Amy James, the daughter of former England cricketer Steve James, was ‘dismissed’ by doctors before she died just 48 hours after being taken to hospital.
The 21-year-old daughter of a former cricket star tragically died after being “dismissed” by doctors multiple times, an inquest has heard.
Bethan Amy James, daughter of ex-England cricketer Steve James, passed away in hospital on February 9, 2020 after being admitted the previous day. Bethan’s father, now a well-respected sports journalist, was covering Wales’ Six Nations match in Ireland when she became seriously ill. Because of severe weather, he was unable to return home in time to see her before she died. The inquest into Ms James’ untimely death began today at Pontypridd coroner’s court, where it was revealed that Bethan had sought medical help several times before she went into hospital for the last time.
Her mum, Jane James, told the inquest that she believed “her life could have been saved”, reports Wales Online. Speaking in person at the inquest, she described Bethan as a “caring” and “beautiful” person who always put others before herself.
She explained that Bethan had suffered with gastrointestinal issues throughout most of her life, before she was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in 2019 at the age of 20. Mrs James said her daughter took her diagnosis with “great maturity”.
Prior to her death Mrs James said Bethan had been studying journalism at the University of South Wales and dreamed of being a voice for those with Crohn’s and related illnesses. It was heard how Bethan had started a vlog account where she documented her experience of the condition, before she became involved in a BBC documentary with Amy Dowden, who is also diagnosed with the condition.
The documentary aired after Bethan’s death, and the programme was dedicated to her memory. Paying tribute to her daughter Mrs James said: “As a person she never moaned, she never made a fuss. She was very caring. She was just beautiful.
“She put people before herself. She was more interested in other people and their stories and I think that’s why she would have made a brilliant journalist.”
Describing the events leading up to her death, Mrs James said Bethan had first visited her GP on January 27, 2020 with fatigue and shortness of breath. Dr Jonathan Carnell gave her an urgent referral to NHS Wales’ Llandough Hospital, where she was diagnosed with possible “community acquired pneumonia” – but Mrs James said this was not verbally communicated to her or her daughter by the hospital staff.
Despite her illness, Bethan attended university to deliver a presentation the next day but returned “absolutely knackered”, and later reported numbness in her right arm and severe nausea, the inquest heard. Over the following days, Bethan’s symptoms worsened, including involuntary movements in her right arm and difficulties using her right hand.
On February 2, she was taken to A&E at Cardiff’s University Hospital of Wales, where a doctor dismissed her symptoms as a “hemiplegic migraine.” Mrs James told the inquest: “I don’t feel on the 2nd that they fully assessed her.”
Mrs James became emotional as she recounted how her daughter collapsed on Monday, February 3, due to being “so exhausted” from the hospital visits. After this incident, Mrs James stated an ambulance was called but despite the paramedics’ arrival, her daughter refused to go to the hospital, feeling dismissed by various doctors and worn out from the long hours of waiting she had already experienced.
Paramedics noted that Bethan’s heart rate was high, but they couldn’t force her to go to the hospital, it was heard. Two days later, on Wednesday, February 5, Bethan’s symptoms continued in her right arm, and she also started experiencing numbness and problems with her right leg.
“Myself and my husband knew we needed to do something to try and find out what was going on,” Mrs James told the inquest. She said they took her back to A&E at the University Hospital of Wales.
During this visit, Mrs James said they met Dr Ngua for the second time. She described him as “very, very dismissive” of her daughter and said that he said words to the effect of: “You again! You were here on Sunday.”
Speaking during the inquest, Dr Ngua said he “did not mean to be dismissive” when he made that comment. He said on reflection Bethan’s high heart rate could have been investigated further.
Mrs James said while in the hospital waiting area a medic came and did an observation of her daughter. During this, she explained how her heart rate appeared unusually high, though this was initially dismissed by hospital staff as a fault with the machine, she said.
Mrs James said a neurology referral was only arranged for the next day after she threatened to escalate the matter to the board seniors, and they went home. However, upon their arrival she said there was “no record” of the referral appointment and that medics had “no idea” why they were there. She described this as “appalling”.
By February 8, Bethan was more unwell at home, she said, and “looked dreadful” with bags under her eyes, and nails so pale she thought she was wearing white nail polish. After Mrs James rang 999, the first person to arrive was a rapid response paramedic named Paul Humphries. Mrs James said Mr Humphries could not record Bethan’s blood pressure properly.
In hindsight Mrs James said she now knows this is a sign of sepsis. She said the “signs” of sepsis were “right in front” of Mr Humphries. The inquest heard how initially Mr Humphries called for a P3 ambulance response, which refers to a low priority. He later escalated this to a P2.
Speaking during the inquest, Mr Humphries said he believes he dealt with Bethan appropriately, adding: “I didn’t come away from that incident thinking I did a bad job.” When an ambulance turned upm Mrs James said she didn’t sense any “rush” to get her daughter to hospital. She finally arrived at 7.45pm following a 12 minute journey, it was heard.
Mrs James described that on arrival at the NHS University Hospital of Wales they had to wait in the ambulance outside the hospital for a considerable amount of She said the family “now know” there was a bed available, claiming her daughter wasn’t “deemed unwell enough” to have it.
At 8.10pm Ms James was triaged before she went down to the resus deparment at 9.15pm. Mrs James said it occurred to her that her daughter was only at this point going down to where she needed to be to receive help, some three hours after the ambulance had been called.
She described there being “chaos” at the hospital as medics struggled to administer a line into Bethan, and with nobody clearly in charge of her care. Mrs James said she believes it should have been administered in her daughter’s neck instead for easier access, or that she should have been taken down to intensive care.
While this was ongoing Mrs James said her daughter was awake, could “hardly breathe” and was “so scared”. After a wait, Mrs James said an anaesthetist came down and Bethan was put to sleep. Mrs James said she felt that from this point onwards, her daughter’s body lost its ability to fight.
She said she was asked to leave the room at around 9.25pm before she was told that her daughter had a cardiac arrest a short time later. Mrs James recalled being told that medics were treating her daughter and asked if she wanted to be with Bethan as she passed away.
“As soon as I walked in, I knew she was dead,” Mrs James said. She said she felt that a sepsis protocol should have been put in place early on and that her daughter “should have had the right care straight away”.
She added: “It’s heartbreaking as a mum to know that her life could have been saved. They didn’t know what they were doing.”
The inquest continues.