An inquest has revealed that no ambulance was dispatched after a mother placed a 999 emergency call — despite providing her full address — before she and her disabled daughter were later found dead.
Alphonsine Djiako Leuga, 47, who suffered from sickle cell anaemia, died from pneumonia. Her 18-year-old daughter, Loraine Choulla, who had Down’s syndrome and learning difficulties, was entirely reliant on her mother for basic needs such as food and water.
Proceedings at Nottingham Coroner’s Court, which began on Monday and are expected to last five days, heard that Ms Leuga had made a distressing 999 call on the afternoon of February 2 last year — three months before both bodies were discovered in their Nottingham home on May 21.
During the call, Ms Leuga told the emergency operator she felt extremely cold and unable to move. She pleaded for help for her daughter, stating, “I need help to my daughter” and “I’m in the bed, I feel cold and can’t move,” before the line went dead. She had also clearly given her full address in Hartley Road, Radford.
Susan Jevons, head of patient safety for East Midlands Ambulance Service, told the inquest that the call should have been flagged for ambulance dispatch. However, the emergency medical adviser mistakenly treated it as an abandoned call and closed it, despite having received the correct address. This meant it was no longer visible to the control room or dispatch teams.
“The call should have remained open until an ambulance was sent,” Jevons testified. “There was a missed opportunity here.”
Coroner Amanda Bewley noted that sending an ambulance might have made the critical difference in saving Loraine’s life.
Evidence showed that Ms Leuga had been seriously ill just days earlier, admitted to hospital in late January for a blood transfusion due to dangerously low iron levels. Her release was described as “pragmatic,” as she needed to care for her daughter.
Jevons acknowledged that if Loraine died after her mother, the lack of ambulance response represented a significant failure. “Yes,” she admitted, “there was a missed opportunity for an ambulance to attend Alphonsine when she requested one.”
Pathologist Dr Stuart Hamilton, testifying via video link, estimated both women had likely been dead for “weeks to months” before they were found. Ms Leuga’s cause of death was identified as pneumonia of uncertain origin. For Loraine, no definitive cause could be determined, though Dr Hamilton said there was no evidence of foul play.
He also could not rule out the possibility that Ms Leuga died on the same day as the emergency call. Regarding Loraine, he stated that given her total dependence on her mother, she may have died from dehydration if she had no means to care for herself after her mother’s death.
