Doctors told me that my healthy daughter’s belly bug was only nausea – but only two days later she was dead. As a parent, these are the red flags that you should never ignore

It was at the end of 2023 and my oldest daughter, Aiyoung, juggled with part-time services on the deli counter on our local waitrosis with plans for her inter-annual adventure in Southeast Asia.

After she recently completed her A levels, she was 18 and enjoyed a new feeling of freedom, drives around through London to concerts or on her way on walks in the countryside with her friends friends.

But on November 4 she developed a belly bug. By November 6 my healthy, lively, energetic teenager was gone.

And almost two years after her death we are still stunned and trouble finding out what happened.

I woke up that morning at 2 o’clock for the sound of an almighty crash in the bathroom. Aiyoung had tried to use the toilet, but collapsed. I ran her in, just like her younger sister, then 15.

We found Aiyoung on the floor, but still fully responding. Paramedics arrived quickly and tried to breathe new life into her, but I would later learn that she had suffered different cardiac arrest, and by the time she arrived in the hospital, it was already too late.

Aiyoung had no underlying health problems, as the subsequent tests would prove. And I believe that if it was not for catastrophic failures that her doctors made in the days prior to her death, she is still here – studying veterinary medicine at the University of Edinburgh, just as she had planned.

But the mistakes of doctors are easy to miss. Even I, after working as a nurse for more than 20 years, wrongly trusted decisions that were probably fatal.

Now I want every parent to know the red flags to pay attention and when it is crucial to refuse to take no to answer.

My recommendations come in the same week as a crucial development in the tragic case of Martha Mills, a 13-year-old who died in 2021 of sepsis-a deadly immune system reaction to an infection.

Last week a panel of medical experts ruled that the consultant responsible for the treatment of Martha, Professor Richard Thompson, was guilty of misconduct because she did not admit that she was quickly intensive care intensive care. An earlier Coroner report concluded that the young girl, who developed the condition because of an infected pancreatic wound, would probably have survived if doctors had previously identified warning signals.

Martha’s heartbreaking story was widely reported in September 2022, with many doctors who comment on the lessons that the NHS must learn from the tragic, to prevent death. And yet, just over a year later, my family was thrown into a similar distressing situation.

The test of Aiyoung started in the early hours of Saturday, November 4, 2023, when she came home from a concert that felt sick. I had waited for her as usual. She looked pale and told me she had surrendered and had had a stomach complaints.

I knew that alcohol was not induced-aiyoung was wise and rarely drank. I assumed it was a belly bug, so a bottle of water left her bed and said she had to rest. But by 3 p.m. she was barely moved, still vomited and seemed unable to even keep sips of water down.

That evening I took her to our local A&E in the Royal Free Hospital in Noord -Londen. We waited about an hour before a nurse performed checks and found low blood pressure and a high heartbeat. These are both signs of dehydration – not surprisingly, Aiyoung was unable to keep water low for 24 hours. A nurse took a blood sample that was told us as normal. A doctor investigated Aiyoung and prescribed anti-sickness medication and liquids.

The next day around 6.30 am her blood pressure continued to fall to alarming lows. She still vomited. I marked the concern that the treatment did not seem to work, but my cries fell on deaf ears. They simply gave her more anti-sickness medicines that, ironically, seemed to make vomiting.

I vaguely heard something about ‘worries about early sepsis’, but nothing was mentioned.

Sepsis ensures that the body attacks its own tissues, leading to catastrophic organ failure, including cardiac arrest. A maximum of 48,000 people in the UK die from the situation every year, and it is estimated that around 25 percent of these are avoidable, according to the UK Sepsis Trust.

However, the symptoms, such as fever, pain, rapid heart rate, reduced urine peput and a rash, are often since for less serious problems.

Around 7 o’clock on Sunday a doctor prescribed two doses of antibiotics – if it was a bacterial infection that caused her disease, they would help. But then Aiyoung started to undergo two new symptoms – blurry vision and an unbearable pain in her right shoulder. The doctor assured us that they were just a sign of low blood pressure and nothing to worry about.

Aiyoung with her sister Jinju. The coroner’s report concluded that Aiyoung died of lymphocytic myocarditis – fatal inflammation of the heart usually caused by an infection

I now know that pain in the right shoulder is a sign of problems with the heart muscle. Yet never an ECG – a test that monitors the pulsations of the heart – was never offered.

A registrar and step further from Junior Arts-Die had never investigated Aiyoung advised the doctors to stop antibiotics and instead prescribe a third dose of useless anti-sickness medication and liquids. He believed that she suffered from a viral infection that would “lead his course,” and therefore antibiotics would be superfluous.

This did little. The blood pressure of Aiyoung was the lowest it had been since her admission, and her heartbeat was alarmingly high. She was desperate, broke, from pain and apparently confused about where I was when I left the room. So I was surprised when the clerk then gave instructions to discharge her.

But before we even walked out the door, Aiyoung had surrendered again and she still had enormous pain. I felt helpless, but she was desperate not to return to the hospital. At about 10.30 pm I felt lighter when she finally fell asleep. About three hours later she suffered the cardiac arrest that would kill her.

Back at the Royal Free, an army of Medici surrounded her bed. I pulled the doctor’s doctor who had expressed concern about Sepsis. ‘What happened?’ I asked him. He seemed too shocked to speak.

It took the coroner three months to tell us what was supposed to have killed our fit and healthy daughter – and whether the hospital had done something wrong.

Waiting for answers felt like your bleach in an open wound was rubbing. Was it sepsis? Had anyone split her drink during the concert? Has she had a hidden genetic condition that could influence my other two daughters? The coroner’s report concluded that Aiyoung died of lymphocytic myocarditis – fatal inflammation of the heart that is usually caused by an infection, in this case a gastric virus. There will be no research because the coroner believes that the explanation has been cut and dry.

However, independent experts with whom I spoke are not convinced.

Dr. Daniels, an Intensive Care consultant based in Birmingham and the executive director of the UK Sepsis Trust, said that myocarditis caused by a virus that almost always causes a terrible shortness of breath for death that Aiyoung has never had. Other doctors who have assessed her case believe that she was killed by serious dehydration.

“It is quite possible to lose enough liquid to cause life -threatening heart problems in young, healthy people,” said Dr. Paul Kennedy, a consultant for emergency aids.

While the hospital’s report concluded that his staff “did not fall into healthcare,” Dr. said. Kennedy that the failure to treat the dehydration of Aiyoung was crucial. He added: “It is an extremely bad practice to discharge patients who still vomit – it means that they cannot take oral liquids.”

My rally cries for parents, or someone with a sick loved one, this is – if they don’t get better, it’s a red flag. Push the doctors to try something else and don’t let them wash their hands from you.

Take dehydration seriously – regardless of age or health problems. Get that all decisions are made by doctors who have seen your loved one personally.

And if you can manage it, you don’t leave their bed.

A spokesperson for the Royal Free London said: ‘We would like to expand our sincere condolences to the parents of Aiyoung about the sad death of their daughter. Trust carried out an extensive evaluation of the care of AIYoung. The case was referred to the coroner, who is independent of trust, and they have not expressed any worries about the treatment of staff.

‘We are sorry that Aiyoung’s parents did not feel supported. Our teams have listened carefully to their feedback as learning for the future. ‘