THE FAMILY of an epileptic woman who died after being given an overdose of a sedative at Southend Hospital say they have closure at last after a coroner overturned the cause of her death.

Nicola Ames, 35, died after being given too much of sedative Haloperidol in 2009, but despite this her death was not referred to a coroner.

A doctor wrote a death certificate saying Miss Ames died of acute pancreatitis caused by excessive drinking, even though she had received more than three times the recommended daily dose of Haloperidol before she stopped breathing.

After a five-year battle for answers, her grieving familywill now be able to re-register the death to show the hospital was at fault.

After the inquest, sister Julie Ames, 43, said: “This is our closure.

We have finally got what we wanted, an apology from the hospital and changes so that it won’t happen again.

“We can now change the death certificate so it shows she did not die from acute pancreatitis and excessive alcohol, but it was because of the sedative.

“I think it was a cover-up. The doctor would have seen how much Haloperidol she was given, but put it down to pancreatitis as if drinking had killed her. It has been so hard though, because the hospital would not accept any blame at first and said it was down to her drinking and being difficult to treat.”

Miss Ames, from Middle Mead, Rochford, who had a history of drinking, was admitted to A&E on December 16 2009, with severe abdominal pains before she was moved to the high-dependency unit after being diagnosed with acute pancreatitis.

The following day she was repeatedly given high doses of Haloperidol by medics who said she was hard to treat because she became confused and agitated.

An investigation later established that over ten-and-a-half hours, Miss Ames was given 55mg of Haloperidol, compared to a recommended daily maximum dosage of 15mg.

Chelmsford Coroners’ Court heard on Friday she developed breathing difficulties and should have been transferred to intensive care and put on a ventilator but she remained on the ward.

Her condition deteriorated, but medics continued to administer the sedative.

Miss Ames suffered a cardiac arrest and died just after midnight on December 18.

The family pressed for an internal investigation, which found the trust was at fault.

Last year the hospital informed the coroner’s office, which opened the inquest.

The family initially sued the trust and accepted an out-ofcourt settlement of £65,000.

Recording a narrative verdict, Coroner Eleanor McGann said: “On December 17 her condition deteriorated, but there was a delay in instigating intubation and ventilation although she was acutely hypoxic and she was given a further dose of Haloperidol at 11.10pm. This led to respiratory failure and she died.”