A talented teenage artist died when doctors misdiagnosed her meningitis as a “boring” virus.
Mia Ginever, 19, died at Frimley Park Hospital in Camberley, Surrey, when doctors delayed administering life-saving antibiotics due to “conscious bias” in her initial diagnosis.
The terrified straight-A student heartbreakingly pleaded with her mother, Mel, 47, not to “let me die” as she was rushed to hospital with searing pain in her head and red spots on her skin that wouldn’t go away. She later developed a stiff neck and became delirious.
Doctors and nurses rushed around the “beautiful and vibrant” Mia as she deteriorated before the eyes of a helpless Mel, but it would be five hours before the doctors finally evaluated her.
The registrar refused to do blood tests or give him antibiotics and instead gave him a “band-aid” of fluids and painkillers.
Mia Ginever, 19, died at Frimley Park Hospital in Camberley, Surrey, when doctors wrongly diagnosed her meningitis as a “boring” virus.
It took doctors eight hours to administer antibiotics to the straight-A student, but by then it was too late and Mia died two days later in intensive care in March 2022.
Bacterial meningitis, which requires urgent hospital treatment, affects the membranes of the spinal cord and brain.
A new doctor on duty finally ordered blood tests which found that he had meningitis B and finally prescribed him some antibiotics, eight hours after his arrival at the hospital.
It was too late and Mia was placed in an induced coma and died two days later in intensive care. Just a few months earlier, she had announced to her parents that she wanted to be an organ donor.
A week earlier, in March 2022, the talented student was making plans to travel and apply for summer internships with dreams of becoming an interior designer.
When her sore throat, aches and headache worsened during the week, she went to A&E in Frimley to get checked out.
Doctors told her she had a “boring” virus and could go home, but Mia’s pain worsened and she returned to the hospital with Mel when she noticed the red spots on her body weren’t going away.
‘Mia’s entire future has been taken away through no fault of her own. She had a lot to give to the world and she was ready to embrace life with it,” Mel said. the times.
He added: ‘We trust that doctors will make the right decisions. If he had any inclination that she was going to die, he would have been screaming.”
An inquest into his death will begin today at Surrey Coroner’s Court in Woking and is due to end on Friday.
Frimley Park hospital admitted doctors did not properly assess Mia for meningitis and sepsis, and did not follow the NHS protocol of administering antibiotics within an hour of arriving at hospital for the second time.
Mia’s father Phil, 60, was shocked by the state of things when he arrived at the hospital.
He described the care of his beloved daughter as “very poor” and said the pain of Mia’s death will never go away.
‘After his death they let us take the prints of his hands and hair, as if he were a newborn. But then she was completely alone. She should have stayed and waited,” she said.
The hospital carried out a serious incident review and found Mia had already developed meningococcal sepsis when she arrived at Frimley Hospital for the second time.
It found that “conscious bias” from first diagnosing a viral infection had influenced decisions made by doctors.
Since Mia’s death, the Ginevers have raised £70,000 for the Meningitis Research Foundation and their parents have been raising awareness about the meningitis B vaccine.
Mel said doctors told her “it was one of the most serious and fastest-acting cases they have ever experienced.”
Writing on LinkedIn six months after Mia’s death, Mel posted a heartfelt tribute to her daughter.
She said: ‘Mia was witty and had life and soul, but she was also a “home bird” and still lived at home. We desperately miss her beautiful smile and her infectious laugh every day.”
A week earlier, the talented student was making plans to travel and apply for summer internships with dreams of becoming an interior designer.
A review of serious incidents by the hospital found that a “conscious bias” from the first diagnosis of a viral infection had influenced decisions made by doctors.
Deborah Nadel, Fieldfisher’s legal director, represents the family in the investigation and an ongoing negligence claim.
She said: “The pain for Mia’s family to know that her death was preventable with timely treatment is unimaginable.
“Hospitals need to improve the way they learn from mistakes and the family hope the forensic inquest will highlight this.”
Mia’s organs have helped save the lives of four people and Mel described them as “lucky… to have a part of our precious girl giving them a second hope.”
MailOnline has contacted Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust for comment.
