Test 'would have saved girl's life'

Bethany Townsend collapsed and died three weeks after being taken to her local doctor's surgery in Newark, Nottinghamshire.

At an inquest on Wednesday, coroner Dr Nigel Chapman recorded a verdict of death by natural causes but said that Bethany's death was preventable and her illness treatable.

She was suffering from an acute kidney disease and weighed just 30lb (13.5kg) at the time of her death, Nottingham Coroner's Court heard.

But instead of carrying out a simple blood test which would have diagnosed her illness, Bethany's GP, Dr Julie Barker, referred her to Newark Hospital for the test.

When the youngster arrived a week later nurses found she was too thin for them to find a vein and referred her back to her doctor's surgery.

Ten days later Dr Barker tried to draw a blood sample from Bethany but could not find a vein. The GP then managed to refer the schoolgirl to a specialist paediatrician but could only get an appointment a month later. Bethany, of Rutland Avenue in Newark, died on January 22 2007 from kidney failure.

Dr Chapman added: "The window of opportunity to save Bethany was huge and that length of time was totally unacceptable with a child who had such an illness.

"Sadly Bethany has died because a blood test wasn't done. Had one been done, it would have shown the abnormality and she would have gone into hospital and her death would not have occurred.

"But without that sample test Bethany was not found to have the chronic disease that she had and sadly she had died."