Parents campaign for Meningitis B vaccine as daughter died after being told she had 'boring' virus

  • ITV News Meridian's Juliette Fletcher spoke to Mia's parents

The parents of a teenage girl who died from sepsis and meningitis after doctors told her she just had a 'boring' virus have been describing their daughter's final moments.

19-year-old Mia Ginever died at Frimley Park Hospital in Camberley in 2022.

An inquest into her death last month found Mia died from sepsis and meningitis B contributed to by neglect.

The coroner concluded that if she had been given the drugs three hours earlier, she could have been saved.

Now her parents are campaigning for the Meningitis B vaccine to be more widely available.

Mia Ginever celebrated her 19th birthday at home with her family. Credit: Family handout

Mia Ginever was a healthy and bright young woman hoping for a career in interior design, but in March 2022 she fell ill.

After five days with flu-like symptoms her parents, knew something was seriously wrong and took her to Frimley Park A&E."The doctor came eventually after an hour and said you are rather boring, you can go home, it's just viral. Any problems and you can come back," said Mia's dad, Phil Ginever.

Later that afternoon, Mia had developed a tell-tale rash. She became delirious, was being sick and the pains in her head were intense.

Her parents took her back to the hospital, where they waited for five hours to see a registrar.

  • Mia told her parents "please don't let me die", hours before her death

"At least four medical professionals followed the earlier diagnosis of it being viral without doing the checks that they needed to do," said Mia's mum, Mel Ginever.

"Mia should have had bloods taken straight away, had observations every hour. Mia should have been given antibiotics within an hour of presenting and they didn't do any of that until 5 o'clock in the morning and we'd been there eight hours."

"At one point Mia turned round to Mel and said please don't let me die and as a parent that is one of the hardest things to hear," said Mr Ginever.Mia was eventually prescribed antibiotics but it was too late. She suffered a seizure and a brain injury and died later that day.

Mia Ginever was told she had a 'boring' virus just hours before she died. Credit: Family handout

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust offered its sincere apologies to Mia's family, saying, "We are extremely sorry that Mia’s care was not as it should have been and we fully accept the coroner’s findings.""Mia’s story and the extremely important learning from it will be shared with our staff and incorporated into their training and education."Babes born since 2015 are now routinely offered the Meningitis B vaccine but Mia's parents would like to see it offered to older children and young people on the NHS.

They hope their daughter's story will go some way to protecting others in the future.

A coroner concluded that Mia could have been saved if she was given medicine three hours earlier. Credit: Family handout

Mia's parents are campaigning for the symptoms to become more widely known.

According to the NHS website, symptoms include:

  • High temperature (fever)

  • Being sick

  • Headache

  • A rash that does not fade when a glass is rolled over it

  • A stiff neck

  • A dislike of bright lights

  • Drowsiness or unresponsiveness

  • Seizures (fits)

It also says that not all people get all symptoms and that sometimes a rash does not appear.

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