NURSE PASSED AWAY FROM SEPSIS AFTER BELIEVING SHE WAS ONLY 'RUN DOWN'
Zoe Bell had been putting in extra hours at work in 2022 in an effort to earn more money for her education. On December 18, Zoe, who worked a demanding 12-hour shift at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire, UK, came to an end.
The 28-year-old began to feel ill at that point, complaining of a sore throat. Zoe was having trouble expressing herself as well. Her condition had gotten worse by December 23, so Phillip Ayres, her partner, hurried her to the emergency room. Zoe started to experience excruciating chest pain while she was there. Zoe spent a total of twelve hours in the emergency department. The nurses treated her medically while she waited, checking her oxygen levels and checking for tonsillitis.
But they "made it seem as though there was nothing to worry about," claims Phillip, Zoe's boyfriend. When Zoe and Phillip arrived at the hospital at 10 p.m., the worried boyfriend didn't insist that Zoe see a doctor until 4 or 5 a.m. An inquest into Zoe's death heard that the doctor who eventually saw the student nurse suspected that she had laryngitis because she had started to cough up blood.
On Christmas Eve, at 10 a.m., Zoe was brought to an area of A&E where ward checks are conducted for patients. Although Zoe seemed relieved that she was at last receiving attention and momentarily brightened up, it didn't take long for her condition to worsen even more.
By 12.30 pm Zoe had become so ill that she was rushed into the ICU. Later the same day the student nurse died of heart failure. She passed away from staphylococcal septicemia (sepsis), bronchopneumonia, and an acute influenza-related lung injury, according to a post-mortem examination.
The UK's National Health Service (NHS) suffered a "loss" with Zoe's passing, according to Phillip. The grieving boyfriend remarked, "It seems that the very thing she worked so hard towards was the very thing that let her down."
It is believed that 28-year-old Zoe's life might have been saved if she had received the antibiotics she required ten hours before she passed away.
Karen Bonner, the Chief Nurse of Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, said: "We were extremely saddened by the death of Zoe Bell and our thoughts and deepest sympathy are with her family and loved ones.
"Such a tragic death of a young person at the start of her nursing career has deeply affected many colleagues at the Trust, especially those who had the privilege to work with Zoe. We are unable to comment any further at this stage as we are awaiting the outcome of the coroner’s investigation."