21-year-old died from blood clot caused by contraceptive pill

A teaching assistant collapsed and died from a blood clot linked to taking the contraceptive pill after being sent home from hospital with painkillers, an inquest has heard.

Fallan Kurek, 21, from Staffordshire, suffered a "massive" pulmonary embolism after the side-effects of the pill were not effectively treated.

The hearing was told that Ms Kurek, from Tamworth, was assessed by a nurse at the town's Sir Robert Peel community hospital on May 8 last year.

She had been complaining of chest pains and feeling breathless.

Ms Kurek, who had been given prescriptions for the pill at her GP's surgery in October 2014 as well as in January and March 2015, collapsed at her home and went into cardiac arrest three days after going to hospital.

Although the inquest was told was that it was likely Ms Kurek was suffering from a blood clot on her lungs caused by a deep vein thrombosis at the time of the hospital visit, nurse Stuart Lamb diagnosed her pain as being muscular.

He told the inquest that Ms Kurek had given him a three-day history of central chest pain which became worse following exertion.

Blood pressure and other tests were then conducted, and she was also assessed using an ECG machine, leading to results within normal limits.

Commenting on the care provided at the minor injuries unit, emergency consultant Dr James Crampton, who works in Burton-on-Trent, told the inquest that other than chest pain, the patient had no abnormal signs suggestive of a pulmonary embolism.

Recording his findings as to the circumstances of the death, Mr Haigh said Ms Kurek suffered "irrecoverable" brain damage by the time she arrived at Sutton Coldfield's Good Hope Hospital, where she died three days later.

The coroner added that he did not consider a change in the brand of pill being taken by Ms Kurek to be a factor in her death.

The corner identified a "direct conflict" in the evidence he had heard as part of the inquest over Ms Kurek's attendance at the minor injuries unit.

Ms Kurek's GP, Christopher Jones, told the inquest that she had been assessed before being given repeat prescriptions for the pill and her blood pressure and body mass index had been completely normal.

Speaking on behalf of the family, Ms Kurek's aunt paid tribute to her following the hearing.