Inquest into death of Cambridge woman following attendance at hospital’s accident and emergency department

An inquest takes place on Thursday (5 January) into the death of a Cambridge woman, Mrs Joan Hawes, following an emergency visit to a hospital accident and emergency department.

The Hawes family is represented at the inquest by Amanda Cavanagh, a specialist medical negligence lawyer at Ashtons Legal.Mrs Joan Hawes, aged 77, was apparently fit and healthy.

In July 2016 she felt a sharp pain in her leg. She worried that it was a blood clot and asked her son Stephen to take her to hospital. They attended Addenbrookes Hospital A and E where Mrs Hawes was assessed by a triage nurse. She arranged blood tests and sent her to the waiting area to be seen by an emergency practitioner nurse. However, during that subsequent examination she was told the pain was caused by a ligament, and discharged with painkillers and advice not to climb stairs. The blood tests were cancelled.

That night Mrs Hawes slept downstairs. In the morning when her daughter telephoned, her call was eventually answered unusually by her father, Terrence, who is 84. When she asked him to check, he found his wife sitting on the toilet and unresponsive. He called 999 but when the paramedics arrived they pronounced Mrs Hawes dead at the scene.

“The family are understandably deeply distressed at what has happened to Mrs Hawes, an otherwise fit and healthy woman,” Amanda Cavanagh explains. “We must wait and see what the coroner concludes from the inquest, but clearly Mrs Hawes’ family feel there are questions to be answered. They will then need time to reflect on the outcome and will consider their next steps in due course. No decisions will be made until then.”

The inquest will be held at Huntingdon Coroner’s Court at Lawrence Court, Princes Street, Huntingdon, at 10 am on Thursday, 5 January.