A MOTHER suffering with alcohol addiction died from a perforated stomach ulcer two days after being discharged from A&E.

Lesley Higgins, 48, of Albert Road, Brighton, was admitted to the Royal Sussex County Hospital’s casualty department on August 29 after calling for an ambulance because she had severe pain in her abdomen.

An inquest into her death heard the “working diagnosis” considered by her nurse after she was admitted at around 3.15am was the pain may have been caused by gallstones.

Former laundry worker Ms Higgins was about to start a rehabilitation course to treat her alcohol dependence at Pavilions in Brighton but she died two days after she was discharged from hospital, Brighton Coroner’s Court heard on Tuesday.

Ms Higgins was found dead in her bed by her sister, Patricia Riche, who saw her after she was discharged from hospital and said she was in “no particular pain” but was still “not feeling 100 per cent”.

Coroner Veronica Hamilton- Deeley considered whether anything could have been done differently to diagnose the peptic ulcer during her four-hour stay in A& E when she was assessed by Dr Catherine Bernard.

The inquest heard Ms Higgins was discharged with a referral to her GP and a recommendation that she should be booked for an ultra sound scan to check for gallstones, but no discharge note was made.

Ms Higgins, who also suffered from depression and anxiety, called for an ambulance again 13 hours after she was discharged, saying she felt dizzy after taking painkillers combined with her prescribed medication, the inquest heard.

Records show it was decided by call handlers that a non-emergency ambulance, which can take up to two hours, should be sent.

Ms Higgins called 999 around one hour and 25 minutes later to cancel the ambulance, saying she did not feel as bad.

Dr Rob Galloway, A&E consultant at the hospital and Dr Bernard’s supervisor, said: “I don’t think Dr Bernard was presented with a perforation. I am as sure as can be that we didn’t miss the perforation. The pain from an ulcer is constant and it doesn’t come and go.

“Because of how unwell she was, even if she had gone to theatre I do not believe she would have survived.”

Dr Max Whibley, a histopathologist giving evidence on behalf of pathologist David Wright, said the ulcer had possibly been present for a number of weeks before it perforated.

Ms Hamilton-Deeley concluded Ms Higgins died of natural causes and her death was caused by septic shock as a result of the inflammatory condition peritonitis, originating from the perforated ulcer.

She found contributory factors to Ms Higgins’ death, including alcohol dependence and associated liver disease, low BMI and anti-inflammatory drugs taken on an empty stomach.

Ms Hamilton-Deeley said: “I find nothing to complain about at all with her treatment in A&E.

“It was reasonable for her to be discharged. I think on the balance of probabilities that the pain she felt then was a type of biliary colic [gallbladder attack or gallstone attack].”