Teen, 19, told she had a ‘boring virus’ by doctors dies after they failed to spot lethal meningitis
A TEEN told she had a ‘boring virus’ died after doctors failed to spot signs of lethal meningitis and delayed giving her life-saving antibiotics.
Mia Ginever, 19, passed away in intensive care on March 9 2022, after battling bacterial meningitis for a few short days.
What started as aches and pains and a sore throat escalated quickly into a searing headache, delirium and a rash.
A terrified Mia tragically pleaded her mum Mel, 47, “don’t let me die” as medics failed to properly assess her for hours after she was rushed to hospital.
Mel watched her “unique, beautiful and vibrant” daughter deteriorate before her eyes and felt helpless as nurses and doctors hurried around them, seeming to ignore Mia’s pain.
Ahead of an inquest into her daughter’s death, Mel said: “Mia’s whole future has been taken away through no fault of her own.
We trusted the doctors to make the right decisions. If I had any inclination she was going to die, I would have been screaming
Mel Ginever
“She had so much to give to the world and was just ready to embrace her life.”
A straight-A student and talented artist studying at the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham, Mia had been brimming with plans for summer of internships and travelling when she became ill with a sore throat, headache and aches in March 2022.
After a week of worsening symptoms, the 19-year-old went to A&E at Frimley Park Hospital in Camberley, Surrey.
But she was sent home after told she was simply suffering from a “boring” virus, The Times reported.
Mia’s symptoms continued to worsen, as she developed a searing pain in her head. She also noticed red spots that didn’t fade when she pressed them after her older sister ran her a bath.
The teen went back to A&E with her mum and was admitted – there she developed a stiff neck and became noticeably delirious.
This and her other symptoms should have been read flags for meningitis and sepsis to doctors, her parents said.
As doctors and nurses rushed around them, Mel said her daughter made a heartbreaking plea: “At one point she turned to me and said: ‘Mum, please don’t let me die.’ I promised her I wouldn’t.
“We trusted the doctors to make the right decisions. If I had any inclination she was going to die, I would have been screaming,” Mel told The Times.
A registrar – a junior doctor who has completed their foundation training but is still in training in a specialty area of medicine – finally assessed Mia five hours after she arrived.
He once again insisted Mia’s illness was caused by a virus and and refused to do more blood tests or give her antibiotics, despite Mel asking what the harm was in trying.
Instead, the teen was giving fluids and pain relief, which experts said were a “sticking plaster” that would have masked meningitis symptoms.
A new doctor on shift finally ordered further tests, which confirmed the bacteria meningitis B as the cause of Mia’s illness – she was given antibiotics eight hours after she arrived in hospital but by then it was too late.
The teen suffered severe swelling of the brain and passed away two days later.
‘CONSCIOUS BIAS’
Frimley Park Hospital has accepted its failure to properly assess Ginever for meningitis and sepsis, and its failure to give antibiotics within an hour of arriving at hospital for the second time, as is NHS protocol.
A serious incident review conducted by the hospital concluded that Ginever had already developed meningococcal sepsis when she arrived at hospital for the second time, but decisions were repeatedly influenced by a “conscious bias” from the initial diagnosis of a viral condition.
Losing a child is simply tragic. The pain will never go away
Phil Ginever
The inquest, which open on May 22 at Surrey coroner’s court in Woking and is set to conclude on May 24, will not attribute blame.
But the family hopes it will help to prevent others from suffering the heartbreak they went through.
“Losing a child is simply tragic,” Mia’s dad Phil, 60, said. “The pain will never go away.
“When I came to the hospital I was just shocked by the state of things. The care was so poor.
“After she died they let us take her handprints and hair, like a newborn. But then she was all alone. I should’ve stayed and waited.”
Know the signs of meningitis and septicaemia
Meningitis is inflammation of the lining around the brain and spinal cord – the meninges.
Septicaemia is blood poisoning caused by the same germs as meningitis and is life-threatening. It can occur with or without meningitis.
Both meningitis and septicaemia can kill in hours, so it is critical to know the symptoms so you can act fast.
Symptoms can appear in any order and not all of them show. For example, the meningitis rash does not always appear.
It can be hard to tell meningitis/septicaemia apart from other common bugs.
The symptoms marked with a * indicate those that are more specific to meningitis/septicaemia and are rarer with common bugs.
Symptoms of both septicaemia and meningitis
- Fever and/or vomiting
- Very sleepy, vacant or difficult to wake
- Confused/delirious*
- A rash, which can be anywhere on the body*
Additional symptoms of meningitis
- Severe headache
- Seizures
- Dislike of bright lights
- Stiff neck*
Additional symptoms of septicaemia
- Breathing fast/breathlessness
- Pale or mottled skin
- Limb/muscle/joint pain, which may come with stomach pain or diarrhoea *
- Cold hands, feet or shivering*
Source: Meningitis Research Foundation
Deborah Nadel, a legal director at Fieldfisher, which is representing the family at the inquest and in an ongoing negligence claim, said: “The pain for Mia’s family of learning that her death was preventable by prompt treatment is unimaginable.
“Hospitals need to improve how they learn from mistakes and the family are hoping that the coroner’s investigation will highlight this. These failings are not isolated events.
“We recognise the intense pressures medical and nursing staff are under but more needs to be done to think meningitis and sepsis and react quickly.”
Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust told The Sun that it would not be commenting until the conclusion of Mia’s inquest.
A LIFESAVING JAB
Since Mia’s death, her parents have been raising awareness around the meningitis B vaccine, urging young people to get it.
In the UK and Ireland babies are offered Bexsero, the meningococcal group B vaccine, as part of the routine immunisation schedule at two, four and twelve months of age.
But the NHS doesn’t currently offer it to anyone born before 2015.
As a result, people Mia’s age might be at risk of contracting the disease as they have not been vaccinated.
Most of Mia’s friends and siblings have now paid to have the jab done privately.
Since Mia’s death the Ginevers have raised £70,000 for Meningitis Research Foundation.
After having the “surreal” conversation with the organ donor team as their daughter lay in the room, still on breathing support, the the family were also given the “bittersweet” news that her organs have saved four lives.
Mel said: “How lucky are they, to have a part of our precious girl giving them second hope.”