- Medics believed Zoe Adams was only suffering a ‘relatively minor’ ear infectionÂ
- The mother-of-three had developed a 4cm brain abscess without showing clear symptoms
- Coroner Nigel Meadows said Ms Adams’ ‘strong constitutions’ made diagnosis harder
- Mother claims Zoe had a ‘very strong pain threshold’
04:25 EST, 8 April 2014
|
08:46 EST, 8 April 2014
A young mother died from a large abscess on her brain six weeks after being sent home by her GP with antibiotics to treat earache, an inquest has heard.
Tragic Zoe Adams, 28, died last year after medics put her symptoms – including ear and head pain, and discharge from her left ear – down to a ‘relatively minor’ infection.
But a coroner concluded that doctors couldn’t have done any more to save the ‘extremely unlucky’ mother-of-three, who collapsed and died in Wythenshawe Hospital on March 21 last year.
Tragic mum Zoe Adams, 28, who died from a large abscess on her brain six weeks after her GP treated her for an ear infection.
Doctors believe the infection spread from Zoe Adams’ ear to her brain despite being treated by a course of antibiotics
The mother-of-three was seen by two further doctors who all agreed with the ear infection diagnosis because Zoe Adams did not show any symptoms alerting them to the killer brain bug
A top ear, nose and throat surgeon, Andrew Camilleri, who carried out an investigation for the hospital into Ms Adams’ death, told the inquest that there was around a one-in-4,000 chance of an ear infection leading to a brain abscess.
He said he was satisfied the hospital
had taken all the steps possible to treat Miss Adams and said by looking
at her, no-one would have suspected she had a brain abscess.
The court heard from medics – two doctors who had seen Ms Adams in the weeks before her death and two nurses who had taken calls from her – who said Ms Adams’ symptoms were consistent with nothing more than an ear infection.
HOW TO SPOT A BRAIN ABSCESS AND ARE YOU AT RISK?
A brain abscess is a rare and life-threatening condition caused when an infection travels from another part of the body to the brain.
Only three people per million will contract the deadly bug each year.
With early diagnosis, nine out of ten patients are expected to survive.
Patients suffering a brain abscess often develop a headache which is so severe it is not helped by pain killers.
The infection can often cause changes in a patient’s mental state and brings a fever with temperatures in excess of 38c
A patient may also suffer seizures as the infection attacks the brain.Â
A brain abscess can be caused by sinusitis and even a dental infection that attacks the brain.
In
some cases, a brain abscess can be caused by a serious head injury
leading to a fractured skull allowing the infection to pass into the
brain tissue.
Patients diagnosed with a brain abscess will be treated with anti-biotics, surgery and in some cases anti-fungals.
The earlier a patient is treated, the less chance of long-term complications.Â
Patients can suffer from seizures and epilepsy
Source: NHS Direct
In fact, the mother-of-three had developed a middle ear infection which had led to a large 4cm abscess developing on the left side of her brain.
The hearing was told the tragedy began on February 12 last year after Miss Adams, from Rusholme, Manchester went to see her GP Dr Praful Patel complaining of pains in her ear.
The doctor examined her ear including the bone structure but thought the symptoms pointed to an outer ear infection.
He prescribed her with antibiotics and asked her to come back in three weeks if she did not get any better.
On March 1 Miss Adams called a triage nurse working for the Out-of-Hours Go To Doc service saying her ear was ‘very painful’ and was ‘nine out of ten’ on the pain scale.
She was referred to a doctor at an out-of-hours surgery based at Wythenshawe Hospital who thought it was an infection of the middle ear but prescribed antibiotics and advised her to come back in a few days if the pain persisted or became worse.
On March 15, Miss Adams spoke to another out-of-hours nurse complaining of headache and earache and four days later she was admitted to hospital.
The Manchester hearing was told after her admission, she did not display signs of illness, such as high temperature or changed mental state, that could have prompted doctors to send her for a brain scan that might have discovered the abscess.
Although she was seen to be very distant the night before she died, that was put down to the pressures of coping with young children.
She last seen alive going to the toilet at around 4am after being kept in hospital overnight. She died on the ward later that day.
Coroner Nigel Meadows said Zoe Adams was ‘incredibly unlucky’ saying the lack of other symptoms gave doctors little chance of diagnosing a brain abscess because of her ‘robust constitution’
Recording a verdict of death by
natural causes, Coroner Nigel Meadows said the diagnosis of a
“relatively minor†ear infection by Dr Patel had been ‘completely
appropriate’.
Mr Meadows
said the out-of-hours service had taken a sensibly cautious approach to
Miss Adams’ condition and he thought they could not have done anymore to
prevent her death.
Mr
Meadows said Miss Adams did not display any normal signs of somebody
with a cerebral abscess and added: ‘Zoe has just been extremely unlucky
to contract this infection and to have a robust constitution.’
He
added: ‘There was no evidence that her condition justified a CT scan.
It would be unrealistic to expect that the hospital perform a CT scan on
everybody who has a ear infection.
‘Even
if she was given a emergency CT scan the night she died then there is
also no evidence to suggest she would have been able to be saved.
‘It
is a very unfortunate series of events. The vast majority of people who
have ear infections don’t have a cerebral abscess. She has been
extremely unlucky to contract this infection.’
He added: ‘Zoe
has just been extremely unlucky to contract this infection and to have a
robust constitution [that meant doctors could not tell she had an
abscess].’
Speaking
afterwards, Ms Adams’ mum, Michelle Holt, said she accepted the
verdict, adding: ‘It’s been a very, very hard time. My daughter was like
me and had a very strong pain threshold.’
Brain abcesses are incredibly rare in Britain with most neurosurgeons expecting to treat at most four patients a year.
Friends of Zoe Adams took to Facebook to pay tribute to the tragic mum-of-three who died after contracting the rare brain condition
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The comments below have been moderated in advance.
Jean Zorg,
London, United Kingdom,
35 minutes ago
it could have been nothing – she was unlucky that it was something serious – please remember that as good as we perceive our medical industries, they are still but infants learning to crawl…
Katie Aygo,
Peterborough,
40 minutes ago
If she wasn’t showing symptoms what could be done??
lisa3,
london,
51 minutes ago
it is RARE, SO STOP SENSATIONALISING
MrsK,
Liverpool, United Kingdom,
53 minutes ago
So sad. RIP. ¿
Its me,
here and now,
1 hour ago
Tragic.
intrepid001,
Ipswich, United Kingdom,
1 hour ago
I see all the medicos are out in force to defend the NHS and our meducal system which is slipping down the pan. Question, why on earth was the lady not given an MRI or at least a CT scan? Is it hecause we have the fewest MRI and CT scanning systems among all EU and advanced industrial nations?
tedious21,
Exeter, United Kingdom,
1 hour ago
Too Soon..? Didn’t the poor lady deserve a better FB tribute?
Y.O.L.O.,
Vienna. Aus,
1 hour ago
She could have survived 94% with HYPERBARIC OXYGEN
Tiger,
London,
1 hour ago
Poor lady, how absolutely tragic. Mistakes do happen but it still seems shocking that her vagueness the night before she died was put down to coping with the strains of looking after young children. Either way, it’s her children and family that are suffering and I wish them well. RIP Zoe.
Beckyb,
Bedfordshire,
1 hour ago
So sad. My thoughts go out to her family and children.
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