Brit docs fail to save dying patient, despite texted photos of condition

LONDON - A dying hospital patient in the UK sent photographs of her worsening health to her mother but doctors repeatedly missed chances to save her life.

Jo Dowling, 25, sent over 40 messages to her mother and best friend including pictures of the rash that later killed her as it spread across her body.

Despite a correct diagnosis, she was taken off antibiotics and given painkillers.

The coroner yesterday said a simple dose of penicillin would have saved her life.

“They were obnoxious and arrogant. She was neglected,” The Telegraph quoted Dowling’s father Ivor as saying.

“I thought she was in hospital and with the best people. She wasn’t given a chance and was left to die,” her mother, Sue Christie agreed.

After developing a purple skin rash and low blood pressure, the doctors at Milton Keynes Hospital claimed Dowling’s illness was a mild infection caused by the cystic fibrosis.

As the hours passed Dowling took photos of her rash on her mobile phone and sent them to her mother and best friend Jess Wales, 20.

Two hours after doctors ruled out meningitis she texted a friend to say “rash is getting worse”.

Her death was pronounced at 5.20am on November 24 three hours after hospital logs showed she had been checked.

Tom Osborne, the Milton Keynes deputy coroner, criticised hospital doctors for failing to realise she was in “blood poisoning shock”.

A spokesman for Milton Keynes Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said it “fully accepts the verdict of the inquest”. (ANI)