Bristol rugby player inquest to examine hospital treatment

An inquest into the death of a university rugby player will examine if doctors failed to spot the early signs of a serious infection.

Maddy Lawrence, 20, was taken to a hospital in Bristol after dislocating her hip in a University of the West of England (UWE) rugby match on 9 March.

She died two weeks later of an unknown infection in intensive care, a pre-inquest hearing was told.

The treatment she received in hospital will be examined by the coroner.

Dr Peter Harrowing, area coroner, said: "She was a young, fit woman, who'd been admitted to hospital with an extremely painful, but not life-threatening injury, and sadly died."

He agreed to calling a microbiologist as an expert witness in the inquest which will begin on 29 August 2023.

The inquest will focus on the treatment she received before being admitted to intensive care, between 11-14 March 2022, Avon Coroners Court was told.

Johnathan Jones KC, acting for Ms Lawrence's family, said: "The family are very concerned, and would like to know more about the treatment and observations on those dates.

"Also, the aspect Maddy's mother feels particularly concerned about is the delay with the ambulance crew, which took six hours."

"We need to look at the causative issues, and if the court were to be satisfied a sepsis screening should have been done, what would then have happened," added Mr Jones.

"Had treatment been given, could it have avoided Maddy's death - only a microbiologist can answer this".

Ms Lawrence's family paid tribute to her "heart and courage" saying they were "overwhelmed" by the "outpouring of love" for her.

"Tragically, she had picked up a bacterial infection that the acute team tried tirelessly to get under control," they said.

"Maddy fought with every sinew in her body, through life saving surgeries every single day of her stay in ICU."

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