Mum-of-two died after NHS doctors mistook cardiac arrest for trapped nerve and sent her away with paracetamol
An NHS hospital has paid out £130,000 to a Port Talbot family whose mother died after medics mistook her cardiac arrest for a trapped nerve.
Mum-of-two Jade Ellis rushed to A&E after calling NHS 111 when she began experiencing pain in her left arm and severe chest pains in March 2020.
But despite showing symptoms consistent with acute heart problems, the 36-year-old was simply diagnosed with a 'trapped nerve' and prescribed paracetamol, court documents show.
Doctors failed to perform blood tests that could have shown signs she was having heart problems, her family say.
Instead, she was sent home and later suffered a fatal heart attack.
Mum-of-two Jade Ellis (pictured) rushed to A&E after calling NHS 111 when she began experiencing pain in her left arm and severe chest pains in March 2020. But despite showing symptoms consistent with acute heart problems, the 36-year-old was simply diagnosed with a 'trapped nerve' and prescribed paracetamol, court documents show
Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Local Health Board has now admitted liability by breach of duty and causation.
Bosses apologised for 'failings' and admitted Ms Ellis would not have been discharged and would have likely survived if tests had been done.
Recalling the heartbreaking ordeal, Ms Ellis's mother, Sandra Bartlett, a retired cook said her daughter was 'robbed of life over one singular error'.
The 61-year-old added: 'The doctor hadn't done a blood test — had she had a blood test she would have been saved.
'We're a family that's been broken and smashed to smithereens.
'She trusted that doctor when he said, "go home, you've got a trapped nerve". She trusted him and came home and died.'
Ms Ellis, who worked for travel company Tui, initially put her arm pain down to working in front of a computer all day.
But the following day she also began to experience severe chest pain around 11pm after eating dinner.
While some warning signs are easy to spot — such as severe chest pain — others are more vague and hard to pinpoint
Ms Bartlett said Jade believed she just had indigestion, however after the pain worsened she rang 111 who advised her to call an ambulance.
On arrival at the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend at 1am, doctors took her blood pressure and an ECG, a test recording the electrical activity of the heart.
Yet just hours later she was told to take paracetamol and go home, Ms Bartlett claimed. Results of both tests were not shared by the family.
Now, in a letter admitting liability, Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board said: 'It is admitted by the Health Board that in light of Ms Ellis's presentation and despite her young age, she presented with features consistent with a possible diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome.
'The attribution of her symptoms to musculoskeletal condition was not appropriate due to the lack of investigations.'
It also said tests for troponin — a heart protein which can be detected in blood following heart problems — were not done.
If it had, 'Ms Ellis would not have been discharged from hospital at the time of the cardiac arrest', it added.
'The Health Board admits that on the balance of probability, had Ms Ellis developed chest pain and/or cardiac arrest in hospital, Ms Ellis would have survived.'
At 3.15am, just two hours after attending A&E, her pain began to worsen leading to a heart attack.
Doctors failed to perform tests that could have shown signs she was having heart problems, her family say. Instead, she was sent home and later suffered a fatal heart attack. Pictured Jade Ellis (left) with her mother Sandra Bartlett (right)
Paramedics were called again and arrived by 3.55am. But she was pronounced dead at home at 5am.
Ms Bartlett said: 'The ripple effect of what one person didn't do has caused our family hell. Her job and her children were her life.
'She didn't go out at the weekends or anything, that's the kind of mother she was, even when the kids were older.
'She loved coming in from work, putting her pyjamas on and making tea with the kids.
'Rocked doesn't begin to explain it, we've just been smashed to smithereens.'
Her family, including children, Deanna, 20, and Brando, 23, say they received the £130,000 compensation payout in July.
Ms Bartlett added: 'Money doesn't make it better but if they can have that part of their life free from stress that's something.
'I just want them to be able to go on holidays and not worry about bills.
'Jade is never coming back, and those children are never going to have their mother again.'
A spokesperson for Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board also said: 'We extend our heartfelt condolences to Jade's family as they continue to come to terms with her death.
'As a health board, we have apologised to Jade's family for the instances where her care fell short of the high standards we expect for all of our patients, and have ensured that learning from this case has informed improvements in care for the future.'
Earlier this year, alarming data revealed that premature deaths from cardiovascular problems, such as heart attacks and strokes, had hit their highest level in more than a decade.
MailOnline has previously highlighted how the number of young people, under 40, in England being treated for heart attacks by the NHS is on the rise.
Cases of heart attacks, heart failure and strokes among the under-75s had tumbled since the 1960s thanks to plummeting smoking rates, advanced surgical techniques and breakthroughs such as stents and statins.
But now, rising obesity rates, and its catalogue of associated health problems such as high blood pressure and diabetes, are thought to be one of the major contributing factors.
Slow ambulance response times for category 2 calls in England — which includes suspected heart attacks and strokes — as well as long waits for tests and treatment have also been blamed.
Despite claims from anti-vaxxers, cardiologists say fears that Covid vaccines might have fuelled an increase in heart problems are way off the mark.
