Toddler’s heartbreaking plea as she was found clinging to mum’s body after medics failed to spot fatal heart attack
A TODDLER was found clinging to her mum’s body just hours after medics missed signs she was having a heart attack.
Lauren Page Smith, 29, was discovered on the bathroom floor as her two-year-old daughter begged: “Mummy won’t wake up”.
Just hours earlier, Lauren had phoned 111 to complain of chest pains and vomiting.
Paramedics arrived at her home in Wolverhampton but said there was no cause for concern after incorrectly reading her electrocardiogram (ECG) result.
Lauren was then found by mum Emma Carrington following the tragedy on January 6 last year.
A post mortem found the administrator died from a sudden heart attack following a blood clot in her lung.
West Midlands Ambulance Service has now admitted liability for a series of failings in the run up to Lauren’s death.
They have also apologised to Lauren’s family, who previously accused the two paramedics of “basically letting her die”.
Mum Emma said: “Our lives have been absolutely devastated by what happened to Lauren, who had so much to live for and such a bright future in front of her.
“The admissions of liability from the ambulance service show the extent to which things went wrong in the way Lauren was treated.
“We can only hope that lessons have now been learned so that no other family has to endure the pain we have been through, and that the Health and Care Professional Council give serious consideration to the fitness to practice of the paramedics who attended Lauren.”
A coroner previously ruled there had been “gross failings” in Lauren’s care.
An inquest was told two paramedics told the mum the ECG reading had given them no cause for concern.
The results were actually showing a likely cardiac event in progress but the medics misinterpreted the results.
They also failed to spot the signs from an auto-diagnostic monitor of “abnormal findings for an 18-39 female”.
Due to their assessment, Lauren chose not to go to hospital and was tragically found dead hours later.
Black Country coroner Coroner Jo Lees issued a prevention of future deaths letter to the ambulance service due to concerns over lack of training.
A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said: “We would again like to apologise to the family of Lauren Smith and offer our condolences.
“The trust undertook an extensive investigation into the incident, which we have shared with Lauren’s family.
“As a result we have implemented a number of changes based on the findings.
“We will continue to do all we can to try and stop something like this ever happening again.”
