A teacher in her late twenties died of an accidental overdose of paracetamol after calling 999 due to severe pain caused by a urinary infection.
An inquest heard that the twenty-six-year-old teacher, Amber Hickford, was suffering from pain from a urine infection that was so extreme, she could barely walk as a result.
After calling 999, Amber allegedly had the urgency of her matter downgraded, so that no ambulance would visit her apartment. Instead, she was incorrectly advised to attend hospital by her own means. Despite pleas from her boyfriend who noted that she was very unsteady on her feet, she went to bed in an attempt to sleep it off.
After getting to bed, Amber’s boyfriend checked on her after briefly stepping out of the house and found her cold and unresponsive. He recalled:
‘I pulled her onto the floor and called 999, and they talked me through CPR. The paramedics arrived and then came into the room but said Amber wasn’t breathing and her heart had stopped and machines were doing it for her. They called another ambulance for help getting her downstairs. Amber passed away later in hospital.”
It transpired that she had been discharged from the same hospital just two days prior and was given stronger codeine painkillers in the form of co-codamol. Prior to the 999 calls, she had also called 111 before her follow-up appointment was due with the hospital, as the pain was so severe. At which point she was advised to contact 999.
The inquiry is currently suspended, as the Coroner, Michael Salt – having accepted the urgency of the matter was miscategorised – stated that more needed to be understood about what could’ve been achieved had an ambulance attended the scene at the estimated time of 1 hour, 36 minutes before Amber stopped breathing.
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