Doctors could not have prevented Shropshire teacher's death, coroner rules
Doctors at two hospitals in Shropshire could not have prevented the death of a Telford teacher, a coroner concluded.
Christel Margret Jenkins, died of pancreatic cancer at her home in Haygate Drive, Wellington, on July 16, 2014.
An inquest was opened in Wellington after her family complained that her death could have been prevented if staff at the Princess Royal Hospital and Royal Shrewsbury Hospital had diagnosed her condition earlier.
The senior coroner for Shropshire, John Ellery, ruled that Mrs Jenkins had died from natural causes and added that a pathologist had concluded that her cancer was not detectable, but already inoperable, by the time she was admitted to hospital on December 21.
He said that the conduct of staff could not be criticised, but added that the family had raised questions about communication problems that lay outside the scope of the inquest.
Mrs Jenkins, 65, who taught IT to service personnel at RAF Cosford on behalf of Telford College of Arts and Technology, was admitted to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital with acute abdominal pain on December 21, 2013, but was discharged just a few hours later with a plan for follow up out-patient care.
However she was re-admitted on December 23 and told she would have an MRI scan, the inquest was told.
Dr Trevor Hunt, a consultant and colorectal surgeon at both hospitals, told the inquest that the patient had a history of abdominal pain and liver problems stretching back nearly 10 years which made an exact diagnosis very difficult.
Dr Hunt said that he had cancelled an MRI that was ordered for January 16 as he did not believe it was needed at the time.
"She had been through all those investigations in the past. A CT scan was more appropriate."
Dr Jonathan McCloud a colorectal surgeon who also examined Mrs Jenkins said she had received a series of scans and tests.
He said that he had considered the possibility that Mrs Jenkins had been suffering from chronic pain but denied that he had "dismissed the pain", adding that the patient had discharged herself from hospital before he could produce a care plan.
Following the inquest Mrs Jenkins' son James Pearson-Jenkins said that the family accepted the coroner's verdict.
