Parents sue Bradford hospital over daughter's death

The parents of a teenager who died just over 24 hours after being admitted to hospital are suing an NHS trust.

Steve and Anne Garner believe Laura, 18, died as a result of a series of failures in her care after she was admitted to Bradford Royal Infirmary.

Her mother Anne said: "I trusted the hospital with one of my most treasured possessions and they let me down."

The hospital trust has apologised and said necessary action was being taken.

Miss Garner, a trainee hairdresser from Baildon, was admitted to hospital on 22 September, a few days after a fall in which she thought she had hurt her back.

Mrs Garner said her daughter was suffering with severe abdominal pain and was told by a hospital doctor that she had either a water infection or appendicitis.

She said a hospital report later found that Miss Garner had not been given the antibiotics she was identified as requiring when first examined.

The next day her condition deteriorated and she died.

Her cause of death was recorded as septicaemia and acute pyelonephritis - a serious bacterial infection of the kidney.

Solicitor Daniel Hilton, from Beaumont Legal, said a serious incident report into Miss Garner's death concluded there were "deficiencies in the basic medical processes".

He said the report found Miss Garner's temperature, pulse and respiration were not recorded between 1050 BST and 2230 BST on 23 September, even though she had earlier had a general anaesthetic and a laparoscopy. She died shortly after midnight.

Paying tribute to her daughter, Mrs Garner said: "Laura was a beautiful, cheeky, loving daughter who lived her short life to the max.

"We have many happy memories of Laura growing up and it has been a privilege watching her become the great individual she was.

"It is tragic that her life has been snatched so needlessly and we will miss her more than we can ever say, our family will never be complete again."

In a statement, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said it would like to pass on its "sincere condolences" to the family.

It added: "After Laura's death, the Foundation Trust took immediate action to investigate the circumstances surrounding this tragic loss of life and an internal investigation was carried out, the results of which we shared with Laura's family.

"We would like to apologise to Laura's family and assure them that the necessary actions, which came out of the report, are being taken."