Woman, 20, died hours after GP told her it was flu
Vicki Core was prescribed Motilium by the GP and told that she would start to feel better within 72 hours.
But the trainee hairdresser from Tallaght in Dublin collapsed in her parent’s home the following morning.
Despite efforts by her mother and an ambulance crew to save her life, she was pronounced dead upon arrival to the nearby Adelaide and Meath Hospital in Tallaght on Jul 1, 2007.
Yesterday, a Medical Council fitness to practise inquiry heard that Ms Core’s mother Maureen was so concerned on the morning of her daughter’s death that she went to phone an ambulance.
“As I was leaving the room, there was a thud on the floor,” Mrs Core said.
“I tried to administer resuscitation and I was swallowing the fluids that were coming from Vicki’s mouth.”
The inquiry is examining a number of allegations which have been brought against Ms Core’s GP.
The Irish-born doctor, who at the direction of the Medical Council, can only be identified as Dr A, faces 11 allegations of professional misconduct.
These include that he failed to carry out a proper examination on Ms Core, that he failed to give adequate consideration to the symptoms she and her family were reporting to him and that he failed to arrange for her to be transferred to hospital.
Dr A is also facing the allegation that he altered his medical records after he became aware of Ms Core’s death.
He denies all of the allegations.
Vicki’s mother Maureen told the inquiry that her daughter had been feeling ill for a month previously and had been forced to take sick leave from John Adam hair and beauty saloon in Rathmines.
Two nights before her death, Vicki had difficulty breathing and was vomiting.
The hearing continues.
