A 15-year-old girl died of heart failure after doctors sent her home from hospital with paracetamol.

Teenager Amy Carter felt so ill she had asked a medic: "am I going to die?" and begged hospital staff not to send her home as she felt so ill.

By this time Amy was being treated for glandular fever and was told by a doctor: "Of course not. Don't be silly. It's a nasty illness but it's certainly not life threatening."

Amy's devastated parents claimed opportunities were missed to save their daughter and that it was obvious that Amy was seriously ill, which calls in to question whether medical negligence played its part in this tragic death.

Amy first felt unwell at the start of December with flu like symptoms so her parents took her to an out-of-hours medical unit at the Worcester Royal Hospital.

The on-call doctor diagnosed sinusitis and prescribed a week’s course of antibiotics and sent Amy home.

A few days later Amy's eyes swelled so she was taken to her GP's who said she had suffered an allergic reaction to the antibiotics and prescribed antihistamines.

Amy was then unable to keep food down over the next few nights and got thrush on her tongue, so her GP sent her to the Worcester Royal Hospital on the 19th December believing she had a bacterial infection in her throat.

Tests revealed that Amy was in fact suffering from glandular fever, she was sent home from hospital two days later with paracetamol and told to rest.

Amy was taken back to hospital on the 22nd December with breathing difficulties and again she was discharged and told to drink lots of fluids.

Christmas Eve Amy's GP was called out who declared Amy to be in a critical condition, she was taken to hospital by ambulance, where despite five adrenaline shots to the heart died from heart failure a few hours later.

It is not yet known whether Amy's family will make an official NHS complaint but clearly opportunities were missed that may have saved Amy's life. 

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