Blackpool coroner verdict after inquest into death of Fleetwood woman, 44
Inquest hears that fatal shock was caused by blood loss from aneurysm
A 44-year-old Fleetwood woman died of hypovolemic shock due to severe blood loss after an aneurysm in her groin ruptured.
Paramedics were called when the alarm was raised that Donna Callighan was bleeding out and she was rushed to Blackpool Victoria Hospital where she died on December 30 last year.
An inquest at Blackpool Town Hall heard that Donna had a history of drug use but was on prescribed methadone and the aneurysm, thought to have resulted from her skin being more fragile through the drug use, had been successfully repaired in 2019.
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Doctors at Mountview Medical Practice in Fleetwood, where she was a patient, said that a drug test earlier in December had shown only methadone in her system but the inquest heard a post-mortem, which found the primary cause of death to be the shock from the blood loss, also found some evidence of other substances, including ketamine and heroin.
Evidence to the inquest from Mountview said that Donna had asked for an appointment at the surgery after suffering with a fever on Christmas Day as well as pain from the aneurysm site in her groin.
She was advised to attend the emergency department at the Vic but declined to go, it was said, “because of a previous bad experience”.
She then told her GP that her condition had improved and she was advised to continue with anti-biotics which had been prescribed for an e-coli infection.
But several days later, paramedics were called to her home and she was said to have lost a considerable amount of blood by the time she got to hospital.
She suffered a cardiac arrest on the way and was unresponsive on arrival.
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Blackpool and Fylde senior coroner Alan Wilson confirmed the primary cause of death as the hypovolemic shock due to severe blood loss, with the secondary cause the substances in her system from the drug use, which he said had shown a relapse of some sort.
The drug use had also affected the condition of her skin and infection had led to the aneurysm.
He recorded a narrative conclusion outlining the circumstances of her death.