Shona Pope never expected to face death at 22 years old. And she didn’t have to, were it not for her doctor.
Shona went to an emergency clinic in November, after experiencing breathing problems. She was seen by a doctor, but the doctor was dismissive.
“I was getting out of breath for no reason, even when I was sitting down,” said Shona. “[The doctor] said I was asthmatic and when I asked her how to use an inhaler, she told me she didn’t have enough time to show me and that I could look it up on YouTube.”
Shona was upset, but decided to trust the doctor. But two days later, she was back in the ER, still experiencing the same problems. While in the waiting room, she suffered a heart attack.
Doctors ran tests on her, which revealed that the heart attack was caused by blood clots on her lungs, which they think was caused by her contraceptive pill.
She was put in a medically-induced coma while she recovered. While she was in the coma, it was also discovered that she was suffering pneumonia.
She’s recovered, but experiences short term memory loss.
“I feel grateful to be alive,” says Shona. “My worry is that all of this could have happened while I was sleeping. If I hadn’t been in [the ER] at the time I wouldn’t be here right now.”
Care UK, which runs the service to which she originally went for her breathing problems, says they’re performing a thorough investigation.
“We take all feedback very seriously and urge the patient to contact us directly so that we can address any concerns personally and discuss what was recorded in the consultation notes.”
