by Jan Thom

A mum-of-two with a rare form of leukaemia collapsed and died in her husband's arms after suffering a nosebleed lasting almost two days.

An inquest heard 56-year-old Auldene Cochran's blood was not tested when she went to Kent and Canterbury Hospital with the complaint - failing to highlight a serious deficiency of blood cells and platelets in her body.

The Caribbean-born social worker, of King’s Avenue, Whitstable, died two days later on September 12 last year.

The inquest was told staff nurse Suzanne Byrne had been contacted by Mrs Cochran about the persistent nosebleed, which began on September 10, and advised her to go to emergency care at the hospital.

Nurse Byrne contacted an on-call haematology registrar to say Mrs Cochran needed blood tests as she had received chemotherapy.

But the nurse who attended her at the minor injuries unit was unaware of the advance alerts and no tests were carried out.

Instead, her nose was packed to staunch the flow and Mrs Cochran was allowed to leave.

She attended the Estuary View Medical Centre, in Whitstable, to have the plug removed the next day - but within 15 minutes the bleed began again.

Husband David Cochran told the inquest: "We suspected it was linked with her condition which had been diagnosed in March, but we didn’t really know the full ramifications."

The couple returned to Kent and Canterbury Hospital early the next morning because the bleeding was so severe.

This time a blood test was taken and Mrs Cochran was immediately admitted to Brabourne ward, where she died shortly afterwards.

Pathologist Dr David Rouse, who carried out the post-mortem examination, said Mrs Cochran died from T-cell lymphona and pancytopaenia, a deficiency of blood cells and platelets.

The disease results from a viral infection, peculiar to two Caribbean islands and Japan, which gets into the genetic make-up and is transmitted mainly by breast feeding.

Nurse Byrne told the inquest: "Auldene had symptons that would indicate low platelets and a full blood count should have been done."

She said since the incident, communications had improved at the hospital and staff had been instructed to make sure they are aware of the complexities of post chemotherapy patients.

Recording a narrative verdict, coroner Rebecca Cobb said she was satisfied measures had been put in place to prevent another incident.