NHS nurse dies three days after being sent home from hospital and told heart attack was ‘trapped wind’

A NHS nurse died three days after being sent home from hospital after being told a heart attack was trapped wind, an inquest has heard.

Paula Ivers, 47, suffered from a devastating cardiac arrest at her family home in Tameside, Greater Manchester in March 2024.

Tragically, Paula’s 9-year-old daughter discovered her after she had collapsed on her bedroom floor after a tear in her aorta resulted in a heart attack.

The paediatric nurse of 24 years had been experiencing “horrendous” chest pain that was “worse than childbirth” when she was previously taken to Tameside Hospital A&E, an inquest heard.

Remarkably, she was told it was “not coming from the heart” and was sent home.

Now, Paula’s family have accused the hospital for failing her when it came to care and diagnosis, according to Manchester Evening News.

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In a statement, Paula’s partner, Simon Norbury, said she was “struggling to breathe” as he took her to the hospital and had expected her to be kept in given her symptoms.

Instead, she was sent to the Same Day Emergency Care Unit for patients that don’t require admission to hospital.

When Paula was looked over by the doctor, she told them her pain was “severe” and rated it an “eight or nine out of 10”, according to Mr Norbury.

But following a chest X-ray and blood tests, they were “reassured” it wasn’t coming from the heart.

Instead, she was simply told it was trapped wind and to buy a bottle of Gaviscon – she was then sent home.

Over the next three days, Paula’s pain persisted and Mr Norbury said she “struggled to sleep” and was also feeling pain in her back and neck.

She then suffered a thoracic aortic dissection which led to the fatal heart attack.

In his statement, Mr Norbury said: “We were shocked to have lost her when we were told it was indigestion and there was nothing to worry about.”

The inquest was told that her clinical observations were in a “normal range” while her ECG and chest X-Ray revealed nothing abnormal.

Dr Osama Ahmed, a consultant in emergency medicine at Tameside, didn’t examine Paula nor was he aware of her family history but she was still deemed low risk.

Paula had a history of cardiac arrests in the family as Paula’s father had died of a “cardiac case” in his early to late 40s, the inquest heard.

And Dr Ahmed admitted to the coroner that she should not have been sent to the Same Day Emergency Care Unit.

Ms Ivers’ sister, Lesley, also a nurse, said she was ‘passionate about providing the best care possible’.

“She was a caring, smart, determined and loyal person. She was always at the heart of our family and lit up a room whenever she was around,” she said.

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“It is a cruel irony that Paula was a fierce advocate and defender of the NHS, yet when she needed it most, she was let down in the worst way possible.”

The inquest has been adjourned to a later date.