A 'friendly and soft' 20-year-old died 'bleeding from her eyes' after she was told that she had no meningitis and was sent home from the hospital, an investigation was told.
Sophie Ward, a student from London, was incorrectly diagnosed with the flu in the Barnet Hospital, despite the fact that they present eleven individual symptoms Her family said.
She was told that her serious headache and body pain were probably caused by a viral infection and that she would be safer at home.
However, Sophie became seriously ill at night and by the time she was returned to A&E, it was too late to save her. She died less than 24 hours later on meningitis septicemia.
An investigation into the death of Sophie is being held this week at the court of Barnet Coroner in Noord -Londen. It is set to determine whether her death was avoidable or not.
Sophie's deeply sad father Paul Ward spoke to MailOnline yesterday, paid tribute to his 'happy and fulfilled' daughter.
He said: 'If you met her, you would have been through her creativity, you would be struck by her softness.
“She also had so many other great qualities. She was funny. If you were Sophie's older, you would be a very happy parent. She was such a happy and fulfilled person. '
Mr. Ward, who has now collected £ 20,000 for the meningitis of charity, explained that Sophie began to feel unwell on the afternoon of Sunday, July 30, 2023.
Sophie Ward (photo), an art student from London, was incorrectly diagnosed with the flu in the Barnet hospital despite presenting 1 1 1 symptoms of meningitis, her family said
Sophie (depicted with her father Paul) was told that her serious headache was probably caused by a viral infection and that she would be safer at home
An investigation into the death of Sophie will be held this week at the court of Barnet Coroner in Noord -Londen
He said she suffered from painful shoulders, neck and head and an overwhelming fatigue and aversion to light.
“She said:” Things hurt, my head kills me. ” Alice, who is Sophie's mother, then called 111, “Mr. Ward explained.
'They described the symptoms of Sophie and it was a fairly clear indication or certainly a suspicion of meningitis.
'It was not normal, if someone has the flu, they feel unwell. It wasn't like that.
“Sophie had flu, maybe a few times in her life, she would not go anywhere near a hospital, or, indeed, in that respect, 111. But this was different.”
Mr. Ward, 58, said that Sophie, who was a first -year student at the Wimbledon College of Art, spent about six hours in the hospital before she was sent home with a suspected viral infection.
He continued: 'She came home. We have made her comfortable. We thought that meningitis was excluded and excluded.
“She had deteriorated further and we called the ambulance by the morning.
Sophie became seriously ill at night and by the time she had been returned to A&E, it was too late to save her
Displayed: Barnet Hospital, where Sophie died of the blood distribution of meningitis on July 31, 2023
Mr. Ward, who has now collected £ 20,000 for meningitis, explained that Sophie began to feel unwell on the afternoon of Sunday, July 30, 2023
“But it was too late to save her life. They tried it in the ambulance, they tried it in the Emergency Department and they tried it on the ICU. '
On Monday, the research in North -London heard evidence from the nurse that Sophie met on July 30.
The hearing was told that Sophie was only tried after he had been in the hospital for two hours instead of the 15 -minute target.
The nurse said they could not remember if they asked a doctor to check Sophie because of her symptoms of meningitis, Mylondon reported.
She told the hearing that said that getting a second opinion 'often their practice to do this' is, but it was not certain whether it was done in this case.
Speaking of his fundraising, Mr. Ward told MailOnline: 'When your daughter dies, people respond differently.
'On the one hand, it was not possible to come from the death of Sophie or you just try to do something, so I did some fundraising to support the charities of meningitis.
'There was a kind of intentional decision to split our fundraising efforts between the two most important meningitis foundations.
'A lot of progress has been made in the UK about reducing the deaths and damage of meningitis in the last 20 years. But more is needed.
'For example, meningitis now has a vision to reduce the deaths by meningitis to 0 in the UK. And I think that's feasible.
“The fundraising, research, the vaccines of consciousness – it all makes a kind of small contribution to that.”
You can now donate here to the fundraising of Mr. Ward for meningitis.
MailOnline has contacted Barnet Hospital for comment.
The investigation into Sophie's death continues.
