Epileptic fit kills TV producer sent home from A&E

Laura Price, 30, who worked on programmes including Big Brother, Celebrity Fame Academy and Strictly Come Dancing, had gone to the casualty department for help after suffering a violent seizure.

A junior doctor there refused her request for anti-convulsant drugs, telling her they could only be prescribed by a neurologist.

A day earlier Miss Price had seen a specialist who told her she needed more tests before drugs could be prescribed for epilepsy.

But she faced a six-week wait before scans could be carried out.

Her parents are now considering legal action against Hammersmith Hospital NHS Trust.

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Her mother Linda said her daughter's life had been "wasted" after she was "sent home to die" by doctors.

"She went to the hospital for help and they did nothing. They just sent her home to die.

"They didn't even give her housemate any advice on how to look after her,' Mrs Price said.

"The poor girl got up in the morning, had a shower and then realised she couldn't hear anything from Laura's room so she went in and found her on the floor."

Westminster Coroner's Court was told Miss Price, of Notting Hill, West London, had been prescribed powerful drugs to combat epilepsy in her

teens but had not suffered a fit for more than a decade.

In January, however, she went to her GP, fearing the condition was returning.

She reported a series of miniseizures known as absences, a numb, drooping face and flashing lights in her vision.

She was referred to consultant Ra'ad Shakir, who told her he was unwilling to prescribe medication without carrying out further tests. These, however, could not be performed for at least six weeks.

Mr Shakir told the court he had ordered tests because he wanted to be sure which type of epilepsy Miss Price was suffering from.

He said the wrong drug treatment could have made her condition worse.

The night before she died, Miss Price was taken by ambulance to Charing Cross Hospital after feeling unwell.

Once there she begged a junior doctor for drugs to stop her fits but was told it was against hospital guidelines as only a neurologist could prescribe them.

The next day her flatmate found Miss Price lying face down on her bedroom floor.

She was pronounced dead at around 2.30pm on February 10.

The post-mortem examination gave the cause of death as sudden unexpected death in epilepsy.

She was also found to have a noncancerous tumour on her brain.

Recording a verdict of natural causes, Coroner Dr Paul Knapman said: "I am not satisfied, although we have heard of a far from satisfactory situation regarding time delays, it would have made much difference in this case."