Woman who died from ME begged GP for help after hospital ‘did nothing’

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Woman who ***** from ME begged GP for help after hospital ‘did nothing’

A young woman who ***** from ME begged her GP to help her live after her hospital “didn’t do anything to help”, an inquest has heard.

Maeve Boothby O’Neill ***** from the debilitating illness

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(ME) in October 2021 at the age of 27.

Ms Boothby O’Neill had suffered with ME since her teens, but

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became more serious in her mid 20s, with her condition deteriorating sharply in the last seven months of her life. She was admitted three times to Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital (RD&E) over the course of 2021, but she refused a fourth admission because no treatment was available to alleviate her condition.

ME, also known as

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, is a chronic, debilitating ******** that affects the nervous and immune systems and energy production, making it difficult to perform physical and mental tasks and causing severe

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.

Ms Boothby O’Neill’s case has become emblematic of the struggle of ME patients and their families to have their condition treated seriously and

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, with her parents Sean O’Neill and Sarah Boothby fighting to counter the stigmatisation of patients by medical professionals.

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Sarah Boothby has been fighting, with her husband Sean O’Neill, to counter the stigmatisation of ME patients – Lee Thomas

The inquest into her ******, which opened on Monday, heard that her condition left her so incapacitated that she was able to eat only fluids through a straw with her mother’s help.

‘The NHS at its worst’

The first time she was admitted to the RD&E she was discharged the same day, with a doctor writing in his notes: “They [hospital staff] can’t find anything medical – feel it is functional, can drink if she wishes to, she is able to go home but mum not happy at all.”

Her early discharge prompted Ms Boothby O’Neill’s mother to tell one doctor that it was “the NHS at its worst”.

After being discharged from her second admission to RD&E on June 3 2021, she dropped from 54.4kg to 50kg in the space of a week. Shortly afterwards Ms Boothby O’Neill wrote a desperate email to her family GP, Dr Lucy Shenton, begging for help with trying to eat and maintain weight.

She wrote on June 18 2021: “I know you are doing the best for me but I really need help with feeding. I don’t understand why the hospital didn’t do anything to help me when I went in. I am hungry. I want to eat. I have been unable to sit up and chew since March. The only person helping me eat is my mum. I cannot get enough calories from a syringe. Please help me get enough food to live.”

Ms Boothby O’Neill subsequently refused to be fed by intravenous tube (IV) because she felt it was too painful and not helping her, prompting Dr Shenton to write in her GP notes on Sept 7 2021: “If I could do anything I would. It’s breaking my heart. She is an intelligent woman and the only bit of autonomy she has left is to make this decision.”

In a moving note written four days before her ****** on Oct 3 2021, Ms Boothby O’Neill texted Dr Shenton, saying: “I want you to know you are the first doctor who tried to help me get well. This means everything to me. Thank you. I only wish I could have been a more treatable patient.”

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Sean O’Neill described his daughter Maeve as ‘bright, creative, artistic, and opinionated’

Ms Boothby O’Neill was described in a pen portrait by her parents read to the hearing as “loving” and “bright”. Her mother wrote: “She loved learning languages. She had a lively and active interest in world affairs. She looked forward to travelling beyond the *** after finishing school,” adding that she had been robbed of the opportunity by her condition.

Mr O’Neill, a journalist with the Times, wrote: “Maeve was bright, creative, artistic, and opinionated. She was academically gifted.”

‘Several doctors do not believe ME is a medical problem’

During the four years Dr Shenton was treating Ms Boothby O’Neill, she found there was a

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and therapy for ME sufferers. When she reported her ****** to the local coroner, she said that “several doctors involved in her care stated that they do not believe ME is a medical problem”.

The inquest was told Dr Shenton was left so depressed and traumatised by Ms Boothby O’Neill’s deteriorating condition and apparent inability of the NHS to provide her with specialist care that she is now suffering from PTSD and has been unable to work since her ******.

She had been expected to be a central witness at the inquest, but it emerged that she was too unwell to attend, with her GP telling

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Coroner’s Court in a written statement: “She feels that attending the inquest would be likely to trigger a mental health breakdown.”

Dr Shenton’s evidence will instead be read to the inquest and she will be asked to answer a number of written questions to be submitted by the coroner and the parties involved.

A preliminary hearing was told about the lack of specialist services for those with severe ME that Dr Shenton had experienced in trying to find help for her patient.

Dr Anthony Hemsley, the Medical Director of the RD&E, submitted written evidence to the pre-inquest stating: “The trust was not commissioned, and therefore not resourced, to provide inpatient treatment for severe ME.” He stated that there was “no opportunity to refer Maeve to a specialist inpatient centre”.

He added: “There is a lack of a commissioned specialist service for severe ME both locally, regionally and nationally. In order to rectify this situation, action is required at the highest level.”

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Sean O’Neill asked during the inquest whether the practice had received any help from Royal Devon and Exeter hospital in treating his daughter – Lee Thomas

Giving evidence, Dr Paul McDermott, a colleague of Dr Shenton, was asked by Mr O’Neill whether the practice had received any help from RD&E in treating his daughter.

Dr McDermott said: “We were hoping for more help. All I can say is I was slightly surprised she came out the same day. I was aware the hospital was full of ***** Covid patients, but I was surprised.”

The GP said he had not received any formal training from the NHS about the treatment of ME since he had qualified as a doctor in 1995. Responding to a question from the RD&E’s legal counsel about why he had been surprised that Ms Boothby O’Neill was discharged the day of her first hospital admission, Dr McDermott said: “Looking at Maeve at that time she was hydrated and though her bloods were OK it was the whole situation.

“I was hoping someone would take it on and get into more depth and realise that as GPS we’d run out of options – then ‘***** – she was out the same day.”

The hearing continues.

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#Woman #***** #begged #hospital

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