Ana Uglow, 17, was on a history trip to New York. Photo / Luo Lei, Unslpash; Supplied
Ana Uglow, 17, was on a history trip to New York. Photo / Luo Lei, Unslpash; Supplied
The death of a teenager on a school trip could have been easily prevented with common antibiotics, a UK inquest has heard.
Ana Uglow, 17, was pronounced dead at 10am on 19 December 2019 at the Mount Sinai West Hospital, after being found in her New York hotel room.
A Coroner's Court hearing heard how Ana, a pupil at the Bristol Grammar School, was visiting the United States as part of a history field trip.
Parents David and Natalia Uglow said their daughter had been complaining of congestion and what she thought was a chest infection and asked to see a doctor two days prior to the incident.
The parents told the court this request was "refused" by teachers.
Complaining of a "lack of energy" and congested nose, the chief medical examiner New York determined Ana's cause of death as sepsis and bronchopneumonia.
Dr Chris Danbury a consultant who was present described Ana as a "fit, healthy woman with no significant past medical history."
Danbury concluded that the septic shock could have been prevented, "very treatable up until the point when she had a cardiac arrest."
"Fit, young, healthy individuals generally compensate well right up to the point where they go into cardiac arrest.
"My experience is if you can initiate some kind of treatment prior to a cardiac arrest, then the overwhelming majority of people will survive."
Ana had been absent from school two days prior to the school trip, with flu-like symptoms. However she did not want to miss out on the trip. She joined her classmates and teachers who departed for Washington DC on 14 December.
Teachers first noted her lack of energy on arrival in the States. Ana asked to stay behind at the hotel while the group visited the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Details of Ana's symptoms were relayed to the court by her mother Natalia. Mrs Uglow had taken a phone call from her daughter who was travelling to Philadelphia by train. Ana had complained of chest infection and having "no energy to walk".
Ana was in regular phone correspondence with her parents, according to local news site Bristol Live. One of Ana's last requests was a call to her mum.
Bristol Grammar School teachers Rory Hambly and Ellice Clare, who were supervising the trip, suggested getting pain killers from pharmacist in Philadelphia.
Ellice Clare told the court that she would never have refused a pupil's request for a doctor.
Delaying a doctor's visit, Ana instead took paracetamol after arriving in New York on 17 December. However these pain killers would not have treated the infection which soon turned septic.
"If Ana had been treated with antibiotics on December 17 or 18 then it is my opinion that she would not have had a cardiac arrest on the morning of December 19," was Dr Danbury's prognosis.
Miss Uglow, 17, had been on a school trip to New York City. Photo / Luo Lei, Unsplash
Overnight vomiting on the 18th was put down to progression of the infection.
Attending a walking tour in Manhattan, the court heard how her friends witnessed Ana coughing and vomiting in a bin at the Empire State Building.
She woke on 19 December with a racing pulse and high anxiety, symptoms "consistent with the onset of septic shock" Danbury told the court.
She woke her teacher Hambly at 6am, who advised Ana to take more paracetamol. Hambly was awoken again at 7.30am by another pupil who said Ana had taken a turn for the worse.
Ana was found to have suffered a nose bleed and shortly lost consciousness. Emergency services were called at 8.15am, after Ana collapsed with a heart attack induced by septic shock.
"She had been in cardiac arrest for nine minutes before they [paramedics] arrived to assess her. The time of the assessment was 8.26am," said Danbury.
