A WOMAN from Bracknell died from a pulmonary embolism after being diagnosed with what doctor's thought was a chest infection.

Maria Valkova, 63, of Vandyke, died on September 23 last year after complaining of breathlessness, a cough and pain in her chest.

At an inquest, held at Reading Town Hall on Friday, April 20, questions were raised as to whether the grandmother's condition had been misdiagnosed, leading to her sudden death.

She visited her GP at Ringmead Medical Practice with her daughter, Jana Ainsworth, on September 21 after suffering with her symptoms for around five days. Her GP, Dr Ash Singh, diagnosed a chest infection and prescribed her with antibiotics, but when Ms Valkova's symptoms did not improve after two days, and her condition deteriorated, her daughter called 111, who advised paramedics to attend her home.

The attending paramedics assessed Ms Valkova's condition, and decided the best course of action would be to transfer her to the Royal Berkshire Hospital (RBH) in Reading, where she was admitted to A&E.

Doctors at the hospital assessed Ms Valkova, and she was sent for an x-ray, blood tests and an ECG. She was given a nebuliser to assist with her breathing, and her condition appeared to improve. An x-ray showed a small amount of fluid on her lungs, but the attending consultant, Dr Omar Nafousi, decided she was well enough to be discharged at 10.35pm with a course of medication.

However, no sooner had Ms Valkova and her daughter left A&E, she began to feel faint and nauseous. As her daughter went to fetch a wheelchair and call for help, Ms Valkova began vomiting and struggled to mobilise.

Her daughter rushed her back to A&E, where she was re-admitted at around 11.12pm. She was directed to a bed in the triage area, but within minutes she began to lose consciousness. A crash team rushed to her bed to begin CPR, but after 23 minutes the decision was made to stop and Ms Valkova passed away.

A post-mortem revealed that Ms Valkova had suffered a huge pulmonary embolism which had originated in her calf, and resulted in the complete blockage of an artery in both lungs, causing the cardiac arrest.

An investigation into her death revealed that Ms Valkova had not shown any signs of a pulmonary embolism, and was not deemed to be at risk when she was admitted.

A report, issued by Dr Jane Brenchley, an A&E consultant at the RBH who had not been involved with Ms Valkova's care, said that Dr Nafousi was right to diagnose her with a chest infection, and even if she had been treated for a pulmonary embolism on her first presentation at A&E, the 'catastrophic event' which followed would more than likely have resulted in her death anyway.

Recording a verdict of death by natural causes, the Chief Coroner for Berkshire said: "I can fully appreciate and have complete sympathy with the family, and that was a motivation for having this inquest, to see if there were any missed opportunities or anything that could have been done differently to bring a different outcome.

"But from the post-mortem results, there was a complete occlusion in the artery which caused an unsurvivable outcome."