Inquests are never happy events but yesterday I witnessed one of the saddest stories I’ve heard in a long time. Amy Pickard was 17-years-old and seven months pregnant when she experienced a heroin-induced brain injury. Her mother Thelma Pickard was with Amy every day for the eight years she remained in a coma, until her unexpected death in October 2009.
During that time a worldwide trial of a drug found to awaken coma patients helped Amy breathe by herself, swallow small amounts of food and begin to communicate. Thelma planned to bring her home in 2010 but ten days after moving to a new care home in Hastings Amy passed away overnight. An inquest was called to investigate what happened.
While it did not make easy listening the proceedings at Hastings County Court gave Amy’s family and friends important facts about the events that led to her death. Like many bereaved parents Thelma Pickard took the stand and remained calm and grounded throughout.
After hearing all the evidence Coroner Alan Craze judged that Amy was not an addicted drug user and the day she slipped into a coma may have been the first time she had taken heroin by injection. He recorded a verdict of death by ‘non-dependent use of drugs’ and judged that on the balance of probabilities Amy finally suffered a ‘cerebro-corticogenic’ cardiac arrhythmia which led to her death.
Whilst it can involve reliving painful events most bereaved people we work with find the inquest process helpful in understanding the circumstances surrounding a sudden death. Conclusions reached at inquest can also inform decisions on health policies and improve care for others if the Coroner makes recommendations.
For example another inquest we were involved in this year is sparking improvements in training on anaphylaxis. 29-year-old Sacha Rumaner died in a dental surgery in Brighton after a sudden, extremely rare allergic reaction to an ingredient in mouthwash.
Dental staff had very little time to react and there is no certainty Sacha would have survived even with instant treatment, but Coroner Karen Henderson judged the failure to recognise anaphylactic shock removed the window of opportunity to administer adrenaline. She recorded death by medical misadventure and made several recommendations to aid training for dental staff and ambulance crews. As well as saving lives, improvements like this aim to protect health professionals from awful situations.
Our clinical negligence team at Mayo Wynne Baxter is one of the few in the South East to specialise in representing people at inquest. We help families discover the answers they need.
