Girl with meningitis chronicled her final hours after doctors failed to spot killer disease

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Jo Dowling, 25, sent over 40 messages to her mother and best friend including photographs of a deadly rash spreading across her body. An inquest heard Ms Dowling, a cashier, was diagnosed by her GP with suspected meningococcal septicaemia after developing the purple rash and low blood pressure last November.

She was rushed to Milton Keynes Hospital where A&E doctors rejected the diagnosis believing her illness was a mild infection caused by her cystic fibrosis. Ms Dowling was left on observation ward and only given headache tablets and fluids. As the hours passed she took photos of her rash and sent them to her mother and best friend describing her condition as "getting worse".

The bug left her in septic shock choking and coughing as fluid filled her lungs and she died four hours after her last text message - 14 hours after arriving at hospital. It was sent to her friend Jess Wales, 20, who also had cystic fibrosis and who died this year after a lung transplant. The message read: "Rash still growing."

Her family accused the hospital of "neglect" after an inquest at Milton Keynes Coroners' Court heard doctors failed to spot she was suffering "blood poisoning shock". Delivering a narrative verdict, on Wednesday, Deputy Coroner Tom Osborne ruled Ms Dowling died from a combination of meningococcal septicaemia and cystic fibrosis. He criticised the hospital for a "communication breakdown" that led to her death. A simple dose of antibiotics would have saved Ms Dowling's life.

Her mother, Sue Christie, 48, said: "Our doctor knew it was meningitis but when we got to hospital all the care seemed to stop. They didn't seem to know what they were meant to do or what meningococcal septicaemia was. I saw her picture messages and the rash was really bad.

"You couldn't miss them but the nurses did. She wasn't given a chance and was left to die without being given any treatment."

A Milton Keynes Hospital spokesman said the trust had conducted a comprehensive investigation of Ms Dowling's care and treatment. He added the recommendations were being implemented."