A WOMAN brought to hospital severely infested with fleas and lice in what doctors said was ‘like nothing they’d ever seen before’, died of an alcohol-related death.

An inquest in Blackburn heard Carla Gray, 37, died at Royal Blackburn Hospital on the morning of October 17 after her partner had woken up to find her fitting on the floor where they slept, with foam coming from her nose.

Paul Wright had phoned an ambulance at around 7.20am and when paramedics had arrived they had found her to be in cardiac arrest and had tried to resuscitate Ms Gray before taking her to hospital, arriving at 8.45am. She was pronounced dead at 9.32.

The inquest heard Ms Gray, who lived in Richmond Street, Accrington, was an alcoholic who had been known to start drinking heavily very early in the mornings, sometimes consuming up to five or six litres of cider each day.

Mr Wright said his partner’s drinking had escalated after her mother had died of cancer and her children had been taken away by social services.

It was also revealed that she had been suffering from liver disease due to her alcoholism, and had started having alcohol-induced fits in the months leading up to her death, of which Mr Wright and her doctors were aware.

The court was told the alcohol level in Ms Gray’s blood was found to be more than three times that of the legal drink drive limit and, on arrival at the hospital, doctors had noticed she had vomited, was severely malnourished, very cold to touch, and infested with fleas and lice.

Giving evidence at the inquest, consultant anaesthetist Dr Michael Pollard, said: “She was a known alcoholic and had been in a very poor condition. She was making very slow breathing noises but no pulse was palpable.

“She was very cold to touch, hypothermic, but the seizures were not thought to have been brought on because of her temperature.”

The court was also told that on arrival at the hospital there had been a delay with resuscitation attempts because of a discussion over personal protection due to Ms Gray’s infestation, with Dr Pollard saying, ‘they had never seen an infestation like this before.’

The inquest heard that there had been ‘heated exchanges’ between some of the staff, which resulted in an internal investigation into whether earlier CPR attempts could have increased the chances of Ms Gray surviving.

Dr Pollard said: “Even if CPR had been continued with, based on her previous health the chances of her making a recovery were very small as there would’ve been brain damage.”

Hearing evidence from assistant director of nursing, Jonathan Smith, in which he said there were a number of concerns raised regarding the treatment of Ms Gray and whether the results of her hypothermia could’ve been reversed had CPR not been stopped to discuss her infestation. He said there were lessons that could be learned but he was satisfied that had CPR been given earlier, the outcome would’ve been the same.

Summing up the inquest, Coroner Richard Taylor said: “There wasn’t anything else the doctors could have done as she was very poorly. She had vomited and her airways had become blocked and she went into cardiac arrest. She had a damaged liver and that wouldn’t have helped matters. She was immobile and spent a lot of time in bed, and hardly ate anything at all.”

Mr Taylor recorded a conclusion of drink-related death from complications of alcohol addiction.