Exclusive
Devastated family left to view daughter's dead body in hospital 'cleaning cupboard' after doctors 'missed red flags'
28 January 2025, 09:33
The body of a young woman who died of a blood clot was presented for viewing in a hospital “cleaning cupboard”, her family said, after NHS staff missed “red flag” symptoms.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
Dena Collins collapsed in the home she shared with her parents in south east London on the morning of 12 January 2023, a day after attending Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich with symptoms including shortness of breath, a fever, and calf pain which was so severe she was using a crutch.
Her father, Dean, tried to resuscitate her, but she was pronounced dead at the hospital’s Emergency Department just over two hours later after suffering a pulmonary embolism.
She had been discharged from A&E the evening before pending a scan booked for the next day, but she was sent home without blood thinning medication despite a clot not being ruled out, a mistake her family believe cost her her life.
In a Serious Incident Report into Dena’s death, seen by LBC, Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust concedes mistakes were made in her care.
It said: “The symptoms of Deep Vein Thrombosis [DVT] that [Dena] presented with were not those typically seen in this relatively common condition, but there were, with the benefit of hindsight, some missed red flags… Had the DVT been diagnosed earlier and she received [blood thinners] her outcome may have been different.”
Yesterday, after a fight for answers which has already lasted more than two years, the inquest into her death was delayed until the summer, which her family has described as “devastating.”
They believe Dena’s concerns were overlooked because she presented as a healthy 28-year-old woman. They are now sharing their horrifying ordeal in the hope that other young women know how to spot the signs of a blood clot to advocate for the right care, and fight what they believe is medical misogyny.
They say Dena was a “passionate” primary school teacher, a dedicated Crystal Palace fan with her nails always painted the club’s red and blue. She was training for the London Marathon, and was “effortlessly hilarious.”
“She was just sparkling glitter. And you couldn't help but want to be in her presence,” Clare, her older sister, tells LBC.
Dena was at the supermarket on Saturday 7 January 2023 when she felt a pain in the back of her leg.
The next day her concern grew after developing sickness and diarrhea. She was on the combined contraceptive pill and had just finished a course of antibiotics, both of which she knew increased the risk of blood clots.
According to the NHS, the risk of getting a blood clot as a result of using the combined pill is “very small and affects up to 1 in 1,000 people.”
Concerned, Dena went to the GP on Monday morning. The doctor’s notes indicate the possibility of a blood clot was considered, but Dena was sent home with a diagnosis of “likely muscle strain.” The appointment notes were never logged on the shared NHS system.
Despite being in severe pain, she went to work the next day, using a crutch to get around.
The following day, Wednesday, the pain was insurmountable. Dean drove his daughter to Urgent Care at QEH. She texted Clare: “the doctor said with my breathlessness and pain in my leg I might have a blood clot from the [antibiotics] I took last weekend”.
Dena was sent next door to A&E for further scans, with a handwritten note showing that a blood clot was being considered.
At 11am a “D-Dimer” test, which checks for blood clotting problems, returned a score of 710, three times the normal level.
Months later the Serious Incident Report would find: “The significance of a raised D-dimer was not noted and DVT [blood clot] had not been ruled out.”
Dena was visited by four doctors over the course of the day. The ensuing investigation found multiple missed opportunities to identify a blood clot, including test results not being properly reviewed and notes being copy and pasted from previous observations.
The most senior was a consultant who at 3pm diagnosed a likely “Baker’s Cyst”, a fluid-filled swelling that develops at the back of the knee.
Dena was booked in for a scan the following day, and sent home at 6pm without blood-thinning medication often given as a precaution to patients with possible blood clots.
That evening, feeling the effects of painkillers issued by the hospital, Dena told her family she was feeling better and went to bed.
Her mother Irene, buoyed by that assurance, went to work as usual the following day, leaving Dean to take Dena for her scan.
But just after 9am, Dean heard a loud bang upstairs.
“She had collapsed coming down the stairs,” says Clare. “She said to him, I think her last words were: “I feel funny, I've never felt so bad. Something's not right.”
Dean performed CPR on his daughter while waiting for the paramedics to arrive. As Irene and Clare rushed home, medics tried to resuscitate Dena on the landing, and then took her out to the street.
‘I saw her face, and I remember shouting like, oh, my God, she's dead,” says Clare. “Apparently I rang work and said, I'm not coming back. My sister's dead.”
The family was blue-lighted to QEH, where they recall being shut in a room which required fobs to get in or out of.
“Eventually someone came out and just said that was it. There was nothing that they could do, and we had to go in and just turn everything off,” says Clare. “I remember shouting: she was here yesterday, she was here yesterday. And the doctor was like: we know something's gone wrong.”
The family asked to spend time with Dena’s body, but were dismayed when they were taken to what they describe as a “cleaning cupboard”, with a man even entering at one point to collect a mop.
Read more: Warning over online sales of weight loss drugs amid fears over patient safety
In the two years since, the family has been fighting for answers. The Serious Incident Report published by the hospital listed seven lessons learned from Dena’s death, including the importance of ruling out blood clots, carrying out up-to-date tests, and listening to patients.
“Our main thing is that they never gave her that blood thinner,” says Clare. “Instead they sent her home to die in our family home in front of us.”
The family is now sharing Dena’s story to raise awareness of the dangers of blood clots in young women. While they say they are sympathetic to the pressure the NHS is under, they feel that because Dena was a healthy 28-year-old, the hospital didn’t take her concerns seriously.
Concerns about misogyny in medicine more widely were raised in a report by the Women and Equalities committee last month, which found that the issue “is leaving women in pain and their conditions undiagnosed.”
“A lot of biased assumptions were made,” says Dena’s mother Irene.”I think because she went in looking well… They just made an assumption that: she's 28. She's fine…She hadn't had any major surgery. She hadn't been on a long flight. She hadn't been pregnant. But you can still develop a clot even without having had those things.”
Irene and Clare are imploring women who take the contraceptive pill to familiarise themselves with the less common symptoms of a blood clot, including fevers, sickness and diarrhea, so they can raise the prospect with doctors if they feel unwell.
“I feel very empty now,” says Clare. “And the least I can do for her is make sure her story is out there.”
A Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust spokesperson said: “We are truly saddened by Dena’s death and recognise the devastating and lasting impact this has on her family and friends. Following Dena’s death, we undertook a full and through review of her care, which has been shared with her family.
"It is very difficult for us to comment any further ahead of the recently adjourned Coroner’s Inquest, but we continue to offer the Collins’ family our sincere condolences and are here to offer any support they may need.”
