Caroline Savage had been taking the weight-loss medication, but doctors treating her say it was not the only factor they considered when diagnosing her health problems
Doctors who treated a much-loved grandmother did not fixate on her use of Mounjaro weight loss medication before her death, an inquest has heard.
The family of 73-year-old Caroline Savage, from Harleston, Norfolk, were concerned medics too readily attributed her symptoms to side effects of the drug before her death in 2024.
But Norfolk area coroner Yvonne Blake said medics had considered other possibilities too.
Jasmine Leng, who represented family members at Monday’s hearing in Norwich, raised concerns about “diagnostic overshadowing and Mounjaro”.
But the coroner said: “It’s not clear to me from the evidence that the doctors were fixated with Mounjaro.”
She noted mother-of-three Mrs Savage “had an increasing dose (of Mounjaro) but hadn’t yet given herself the increasing dose”.
“I don’t think there was an overshadowing by doctors,” said Ms Blake.
Mounjaro was not mentioned in the coroner’s narrative conclusion, which found Mrs Savage died of faecal peritonitis due to perforated sigmoid diverticular disease.
This is where faecal matter leaks into the abdominal cavity due to a perforation of the intestines.
The issue of Mounjaro was raised later at the hearing by Ms Leng.
One of Mrs Savage’s daughters, Susannah Savage, told the hearing that Mounjaro “was mentioned on the discharge letter”.
The coroner said clinicians “clearly thought about pancreatitis, they thought about other things like an aortic aneurysm”.
“I don’t think the doctors were only concentrating on Mounjaro,” Ms Blake said.
In her narrative conclusion, she said Mrs Savage attended the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital by ambulance on October 18 2024 and “her main presenting complaint was severe pain”.
“She remained in the ambulance for the entirety of her time at the hospital,” said Ms Blake.
She said she was looked after by two paramedics, and two doctors and a nurse went out to see her while she was in the ambulance.
She said the paramedics “examined her and wrote in their notes that she had peritonism”, but neither doctor found that she had peritonism.
The coroner said Mrs Savage had an ultrasound and bloods were taken, with her blood tests coming back as “essentially normal”.
She said she had three doses of morphine, and intravenous paracetamol was also given.
She said “it was decided Mrs Savage could be discharged home”.
“Roughly six hours later when she was at home, her husband had to help her get to bed,” said Ms Blake.
“She then fell onto the floor at home and went into a cardiac arrest.”
Mrs Savage died on October 19 2024.
Ms Blake said she would write to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and the East of England Ambulance Service with concerns about record keeping and communication between paramedics and staff.
“The record keeping was sparse and neither of the doctors could recall or remember Mrs Savage at all so they were entirely reliant on their notes and their notes didn’t contain very much detail,” she said.
But she said she did not find “any evidence of a systemic defect operating in the emergency department”.
“I find evidence of record keeping that could be better, in fact could be very much better,” she said.
She said Mrs Savage had been “sent home undiagnosed” and added: “That’s often the case in A&E.”
An earlier statement released by the family’s solicitor said the inquest “did not establish a link” between Mrs Savage’s medical cause of death “and Mounjaro use”.
Susannah Savage said after the hearing that Mounjaro use “was one of the first things the hospital recorded”.
“It was on the discharge note as the only potential diagnosis that they came up with,” she said.
She continued: “They also inquired into pancreatitis which is a known side effect of Mounjaro.
“I should say they did an ultrasound regarding an abdominal aortic aneurysm, which is not linked to Mounjaro.
“But I think there’s a clear problem here that lots of people are on these weight loss drugs and it really needs to be avoided that that fact you’re on a weight loss drug means you go to hospital and when doctors have failed to come up with a diagnosis that explains the cause of pain – which does often happen – that they can too readily grab at weight loss drugs as an explanation.”
READ MORE: Belfast City Hall will be lit green for safe abortion
She said it was “not clear” if doctors were aware that Mrs Savage “had just been administered intravenous morphine when they observed her”.
She said her mother had been “very excited about the future” having been prescribed Mounjaro.
She said she had been diagnosed with lipedema, which she described as a “painful build-up of fat cells in the limbs and it doesn’t respond to diet or exercise”.
“She had just been able to see a specialist and they had referred her to the doctor who prescribed the weight loss drugs as something that can help lipedema patients,” she said.
“She had lost some weight and was feeling really positive about her future.”
Emily Ansell, also a daughter of Mrs Savage, said: “Our mum was full of life and energy and love.”
She said she was the “centre of our family, had lots of friends, she was very sociable”.
Want to see more of the stories you love from Belfast Live? Making us your preferred source on Google means you’ll get more of our exclusives… To add Belfast Live as a preferred source, simply click here.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login