Kellie had attended her local Emergency Department on her doctor’s advice due to pain she was experiencing from endometriosis
A heartbroken family has opened up about the sudden death of a mum-of-three who collapsed and died just days after attending a Northern Ireland emergency department.
Kellie Montgomery, 37 and from Co Down, died suddenly at home on September 29. Six days earlier she had attended the Emergency Department at the Ulster Hospital on the advice of her doctor due to the pain she was experiencing as a result of endometriosis.
Her partner, John Fletcher says Kellie was told she was being kept in overnight only for her to be discharged at 2am, in pain and distress and claims she had to wait outside in the cold. Tragically just days later, Kellie collapsed and died, leaving behind three children – 15-year-old Mollie, Max, aged seven, and four-year-old Madison.
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While there is no suggestion that her death is linked to her attendance and treatment at A&E, to date her family say they still don’t know the cause.
Her partner, John, spoke to BBC’s The Nolan Show on Wednesday morning, and raised concerns about the treatment Kellie received in A&E just days before she collapsed and died.
Recalling Kellie’s illness, he said: “Kellie suffered with endometriosis very badly for the last few years and was put on a four year waiting list. Lately her health deteriorated so we had rang her GP and they referred her to A&E as the only way basically to get moved up the list. She went to A&E, got checked in and was taken to triage.
“She was in such bad a state she could barely walk and when she got up she nearly collapsed. The girl put her in a wheelchair and back out into the waiting room, which was filling up something shocking. Kellie lay in the wheelchair really uncomfortable and couldn’t get comfort.
“I went out and got her a pillow from the car I had brought with us. It ended up that they took her in, put her on a drip and then sent her back out to the waiting room. We sat there from 11 o’clock in the morning and it was 8.30 that night Kellie got so distressed that she was actually lying on the floor on top of the pillow.
“She was so distressed that she actually tried to pull the medication out of her arm. I got one of the nurses to come out to her and they took her into a back area and put her on a drip for pain relief. They said ‘we’re sending you home’ and I said ‘she can’t walk’.”
Kellie was about to be sent home with a box of co-codamol and told to come back in a few days, when one nurse came over and realised how ill she was. Kellie was moved to another ward in A&E and into a reclining chair which John says provided ‘slight ease’ to her pain.
He added: “They (the doctors) proceeded to give her more medication and the nurse told her she would be kept there all night. At this point, I had my mum and brothers looking after the young kids from 11 that morning and it was pushing 11 that night. I left to go home in the knowledge that Kellie was safe and being looked after.”
John returned home and kept in contact with Kellie who assured him she was being taken care of, had had more tests done and was due to see a nurse. But just a few hours later, John says he started receiving concerning messages from family members.
“At 2am, Kellie’s sister in Liverpool had contacted me with a phone message saying ‘Kellie’s been kicked out’. They came around, put a catheter on her and then took it off again. She was very disturbed by the whole thing.”
Kellie was then informed by hospital staff that she was being sent home as the reclining chair she had been using was needed by another patient. She was told to return to the hospital in a few days time for a scan.
“Kellie told them she had no way to get home. She was in horrendous pain. I think they had maybe given her some pain relief but she told me she was very, very sore and wasn’t great,” John added.
Kellie was advised that she could get a taxi home, despite telling a nurse she couldn’t afford the £30-40 fare.
John said: “Kellie was really disturbed at this point. She had packed up her stuff and was making her way down the corridor in extreme pain. She had come across my nephew and his girlfriend in A&E and told them: ‘I’m really sick and they’re throwing me out’. She was in tears.”
John said he then jumped into the car and drove to the hospital where he said he found Kellie lying outside on the ground in extreme pain and in the freezing cold: “I drove around the back of A&E, round the corner and there’s a small brick building on the left, Kellie as lying in behind it, on top of a pillow and it was 3°C. I was disgusted.”
Kellie spent the following days at home in bed before collapsing in the bathroom several days later. Despite John’s best efforts to revive his partner and give her CPR, Kellie was transferred to hospital by ambulance but didn’t make it.
John says that since Kellie’s death last month, he has been supported by his family and local church: “I have great support – my mum lives close to me and family support from my brother and sisters is fantastic. I attend Carryduff Community Church, who have reached out and they have been fantastic. I couldn’t do it without them.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for The South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust said: “The South Eastern Trust was deeply saddened when it learned of the death of Kellie Montgomery.
“Kellie attended our Emergency Department (ED) on the September 23. Once assessed and treated by the relevant clinical teams, Kellie was discharged from the Emergency Department however, she was referred for further investigations to be carried out In the Ulster Hospital the following day.
“Kellie attended for these investigations. When Kellie was discharged from the ED, staff offered to order a taxi for her, but she chose to remain overnight in the ED, to wait for her partner to pick her up in the morning.
“The Trust would like to extend its sincere condolences to Kellie’s partner, her children and wider family circle at this very difficult time.”
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