THE daughter of a former England cricketer would not have died if doctors and paramedics had acted faster, a coroner ruled today.
Bethan Amy James, 21 , daughter of ex-England and Glamorgan batsman Steve James, died from sepsis after being sent home from hospital multiple times in the days before her death.
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Despite repeated visits to A&E, she was discharged while still seriously unwell.
She collapsed at home on February 8, 2020.
Paramedics were called but delays and a lack of urgency meant she was not treated quickly enough.
By the time she was finally seen in hospital, Bethan was gravely ill and died within hours.
Her dad Steve had been in Dublin covering the Six Nations match between Wales and Ireland, but due to weather delays, was unable to get back in time to see her before she passed away.
An inquest heard ambulance crews struggled to insert a line, failed to call for urgent backup, and didn’t alert the hospital to her worsening condition.
Bethan was taken to University Hospital Wales in Cardiff, but instead of being rushed into resus, she was taken to the “majors” unit where medics failed to grasp how sick she was.
Only after a high lactate reading – a sign the body isn’t getting enough oxygen and could be shutting down – taken an hour later, did senior doctors intervene.
Senior Coroner Patricia Morgan said: “I find that if earlier recognition and prompt action in response to Bethan’s condition by ambulance services had occurred this would have resulted in a pre-alert to the emergency department.
“This would, and ought to have, resulted in direct admission to resus with clinical staff waiting for her.
“Earlier treatment would and ought to have commenced.”
She added that “the involvement of other specialists would and ought to have occurred at an earlier stage”.
“On balance, I find that had this direct admission to resus and prompt recognition and treatment occurred, then cardiac arrest would not have occurred when it did,” Ms Morgan said.
“On balance I find that Bethan would not have died.”
A post-mortem found Bethan died from a combination of sepsis, pneumonia and Crohn’s disease.
Sepsis is the body’s extreme reaction to an infection, where it starts attacking its own organs and tissues, while pneumonia is a severe lung infection.
Crohn’s is a lifelong condition whereby parts of the digestive system become inflamed.
She had only recently been diagnosed with Crohn’s and had been in and out of hospital in the days leading up to her death.
But sepsis was never picked up.
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‘Caring’ and ‘beautiful’
Her mother Jane James told the hearing she felt medics repeatedly missed opportunities to treat her daughter.
She said: “It’s heartbreaking as a mum to know that her life could have been saved.”
She described Bethan, a journalism student, as a “caring and beautiful” young woman who would have made a “brilliant” journalist.
Delivering a narrative conclusion, Ms Morgan said Bethan had visited hospital multiple times between January 27 and February 6 – but was sent home again and again.
Who gets sepsis and what causes it?
Sepsis can affect anyone. The condition occurs when the body’s immune system has an overeaction to an infection.
As a result, the body attacks itself.
Some people are more likely to get an infection that could lead to sepsis, however.
This includes babies under the age of one, people over 75 years old, people with diabetes or a weak immune system (either due to treatment, a condition or genetically), people who have recently had surgery or given birth.
Any infection can lead to sepsis. But those more likely to are those of:
- Lungs, such as pneumonia.
- Kidney, bladder and other parts of the urinary system
- Digestive system
- Bloodstream
- Catheter sites
- Wounds or burns
She added: “Bethan was reluctant to return [to] hospital due to her lack of confidence arising from earlier attendances.
“When she collapsed at home, her mother called 999. A rapid responder was sent – but wrongly classed the case as non-urgent.
Ms Morgan said: “The rapid responder identified Bethan was in need of admission to hospital and requested a back up ambulance at a non-urgent grade of P3, [but] Bethan’s condition warranted an emergency response.”
“There was no pre-alert issued to hospital to make them aware of the seriousness of her condition.”
“Bethan was transferred to the UHW majors area of the department when she should [have been] admitted directly to resus.”
“There was an extended transfer between ambulance and hospital and a delay in recognising Bethan’s critical condition once she was admitted.”
“This delayed the escalation of her treatment and the input of specialty doctors into her care.”
“Bethan sadly went into cardiac arrest and died.”
The coroner offered her condolences to Steve and Jane James, who sat through every day of the inquest.
