Wolverhampton mum died as paramedics didn't realise she was having heart attack

A young mother from Wolverhampton who dialled 999 with chest pains and vomiting died because paramedics didn't realise she was having a heart attack, an inquest has heard.

Lauren Smith was 29 when she died in January.

Her family say she was found with her two-year-old daughter desperately trying to wake her, just hours after paramedics had reassured her she was fine.

An investigation found that the way paramedics dealt with her symptoms was not appropriate - the ambulance service has now apologised.

Emma Carrington, Lauren's mum said: "She absolutely loved life, lover her daughter, loved me, lover her dad, loved her nan and grandad her uncle.

"But her world was her baby and all she got was two and a half years with her baby."

A few hours earlier paramedics had visited after Lauren had complained of chest pains and vomiting.

They checked her heart with an ECG and performed other tests - but irregularities in Lauren’s heart weren’t picked up.

She was having a heart attack brought on by a clot in her lung.

In court on Wednesday 1 November the paramedics who visited Lauren said she didn’t want to go to the hospital as she was concerned about wait times.

Lauren apparently then said she’d be OK as ‘long as she wasn’t having a heart attack’.

The paramedics say they advised Lauren that couldn’t be sure of that without further tests.

An ECG machine used to test Lauren by paramedics provided a printout which offered an automatic diagnosis - suggesting she was having a heart attack.

In reaching her narrative conclusion the coroner said Lauren’s ECG was abnormal and incorrectly interpreted by the paramedics and that a cardiac event would have been underway when ECG was taken.

But she couldn’t say that Lauren would have definitely survived if the ECG had been interpreted correctly.

West Midlands Ambulance Service issued a statement in response saying: "We would like to apologise to the family of Lauren Smith after what must have been an extremely difficult period.

"The Trust carried out a full investigation into what happened to see what learning could be taken from such a tragic case. 

"We are determined to do everything possible to try and stop something like this ever happening again."

An investigation by the ambulance service had previously concluded the way Lauren’s case was handled was not appropriate, and the discharge was not safe or appropriate.