Inquest hears family concerns over the care of 28-year-old
THE family of a woman who died in 2019 were critical of some of the medical care she had received over a long period of illness, they said at the conclusion of an inquest into her death yesterday.
Laura Bacon was 28 when she died at her home in Ruette des Villocq, Castel, on 20 November 2019.
An inquest was opened a couple of weeks later to allow her funeral to take place before the hearing was adjourned indefinitely.
HM Procureur Megan Pullam told the resumed hearing that the medical complexities of the case, which had involved both primary and secondary care, the number of medical experts consulted, the analysis of a large volume of medical notes, with the Covid pandemic on top, meant the inquest had taken longer to conclude than was ordinarily desirable.
Miss Bacon had a nine-year history of complications surrounding numerous medical procedures that had been performed on and off the island.
She was prescribed a significant amount of medication but was still in considerable pain in the months before her death.
A post-mortem examination by Home Office pathologist Dr Russell Delaney found that eight different types of medication were present in Miss Bacon’s body at the time of her death.
In his opinion, she died principally as a result of the toxic effects of two of them – morphine and gabapentin. It was entirely possible that ingestion was accidental, due to uncontrolled pain.
Having been made aware of some the circumstances surrounding Miss Bacon’s death, and the concerns raised by her family, the Law Officers considered it was appropriate to hold an inquest.
Independent experts had been consulted, including a consultant general surgeon, a consultant in anaesthesia and pain medicine, and a consultant chemical and pathologist and forensic toxicologist.
No evidence had been found of any systemic failings in Miss Bacon’s care, the inquest was told.
Stephanie Whitwam, Miss Bacon’s sister, was given permission to address the court, though Judge Gary Perry said this would not be part of the evidence he had to consider when reaching his conclusion.
Mrs Whitwam said in her view, her sister had ‘never received the human support and care that she needed’ over a period of some 10 years of treatment.
She said that the way her sister had been spoken to by some doctors and nurses had been ‘unacceptable’.
‘Laura was made to feel that she was wasting their time and that it was her fault what was happening to her. Laura felt that she had no voice and nobody was actually listening to her,’ she said.
Her sister had lived a nocturnal lifestyle in her latter years, sleeping during the day.
‘Laura was not just a person, she was a daughter, a sister, an auntie, a friend, and a godmother to five children, whom she tried to see as much as possible.
‘Laura was a lovely, caring young lady who is missed so very much. Her nieces and nephews miss her so much and talk about her often.
‘None of this is seen in cold clinical notes, but we should not forget that Laura was in her late teens and then twenties when all of this started and that she was a young female who, before this all started, loved life, especially children,’ she said.
Judge Perry said he found the cause of death to be in keeping with Dr Delaney’s findings.
As the evidence was inconclusive surrounding the ingestion of the medication, he delivered an open verdict.
He extended the court’s sympathies to Miss Bacon’s family and friends at the end of what had been a long investigation.
