48-year-old woman dies after hospital ignores her symptoms, family claims

A Victorian woman has tragically passed away aged just 48 amid claims her severe symptoms were ignored by a hospital.

Carolyn Stanton was a mother and grandmother known for her infectious laugh.

The beloved mom tragically died in August after being turned away from the Latrobe Regional Hospital twice with nothing but panadol to help with the pain she felt.

A Department of Health spokesperson told news.com.au that “any death is a tragedy and our deepest sympathies are with Carolyn’s family at this difficult time.

“Out of respect to the patient’s family, it would be inappropriate to comment any further at this time.”

A Latrobe Regional Hospital spokesperson told news.com.au

‘We share the sentiment and concern for the family as expressed by the Department of Health. At this stage our investigation is continuing.”

According to a GoFundMe page set up by Stanton’s family, she attended Latrobe Regional Hospital on July 29 because she was experiencing numbness on one side of her body, blurry vision, vomiting and a painful headache.

A routine CAT scan in response to her symptoms detected a brain lesion in her right frontal lobe.

Her family says she was admitted to hospital overnight, however she was discharged the next day and was told to take Panadol for the pain and book an appointment with her GP to schedule an MRI.

The family writes in the GoFundMe page that her hospital discharge papers state she was “pain free” but according to her loved ones she was still in considerable amounts of pain.

Her daughter Stephanie Haysom told news.com.au that when her mom was told to go home she was “looking awful.”

Haysom said that her mom trusted what she was told by the hospital to the extent that she “started to doubt her own symptoms”.

Stanton went home with plans to see a doctor but she didn’t make it. Instead, she ended up back in hospital merely days later after falling in the shower due to numbness in her legs.

Family members believe her symptoms suggested a stroke, but she was advised that a second CAT scan would be too much radiation in such a short period of time. Her family said it was for this reason Stanton was once again sent home with Panadol and told to get a referral as an outpatient for an MRI.

Haysom said the first time her mom was discharged she trusted the medical system, but by the second time she was furious.

“I was so mad, because clearly there was something wrong with her,” she said.

Only a day later, Stanton was admitted to hospital again after her grandson and daughter discovered her having a seizure.

Her daughter even had to perform CPR on her own mother while on the phone to emergency services.

Stanton was rushed to hospital and tragically had a second seizure three hours later. The results of the seizures left her in a terrible state.

She lost the ability to speak, control her own body and wasn’t able to recognise her family, eventually she was sedated and a breathing tube was put in to help her stay alive.

Her condition was so dire that she was flown to Monash Hospital in Clayton and finally given an MRI that only days prior she’d been denied.

“I don’t understand why they didn’t give her an MRI in the first place,” Haysom shared.

The scan discovered that lesion on her brain that had been initially found was a result of her having a stroke. The MRI also discovered that she’d had numerous strokes before she’d had her seizures.

Her family was also informed that her right artery had become blocked and she wasn’t getting enough oxygen to her brain and that was what was causing the strokes.

Sadly the information wasn’t enough to help by this stage.

Stanton’s brain was swelling and she deteriorated rapidly. Eventually she was declared brain dead.

Her family then made the difficult decision on August 6 to take her off life support. They stayed with her until she took her final breath.

The family is now left struggling in the aftermath of what happened.

“They disregarded everything, everything, she felt. They didn’t care in my opinion. I do want someone to be held accountable,” Haysom said.

The family also shared on their GoFundMe how angry, sad and helpless they were feeling after she’d died.

“Her passing has left a void that can never be filled in our lives,” the family wrote.

“We are left with so many questions and feeling confused on how and why this has happened, we are incredibly sad that we will never see her or talk to her again, guilty that we could not get her better help and very, very angry that she did not receive the help that she so desperately needed and tried to get.”