Clarissa Street was handed an oxygen mask that was not connected to any supply ‘to try and regulate her breathing’
Clarissa Street, who passed away in 2024(Image: The University of Manchester School of Social Sciences/Facebook)
A young woman who was thought to be “overreacting” when she arrived at A&E later died after being left for more than an hour in a hospital corridor while suffering from a pulmonary embolism, an inquest has heard.
Clarissa Street, 24, was described by her family as a talented and outgoing University of Manchester graduate who loved music and being around people. She died in August 2024 after collapsing at home and being taken to the Royal Oldham Hospital.
The inquest, which opened on Wednesday (May 6) and is expected to run for three days, heard that Clarissa had previously suffered a provoked pulmonary embolism in 2017 but had not required long‑term anticoagulation.
Clarissa Street, 24,
After arriving at A&E late on August 13, she was given an oxygen mask that was not connected to anything “to regulate her breathing” and was left in a corridor despite low oxygen levels and a high heart rate, the court was told.
The hearing was told how a paramedic had suggested that they thought Clarissa was ‘overreacting and having a panic attack’ when she was passed over to triage staff.
Tragically, her condition deteriorated, and she died hours later due to pulmonary embolism with a background of fatty liver disease, the inquest was told.
Clarissa, from Castleton, in Rochdale, had been feeling off for the previous two days before her boyfriend called an ambulance on August 13 when she started passing out, the inquest heard. The sociology student had been unable to sleep and was struggling to keep food and water down for the days leading up to her hospital admission.
Staff Nurse Michelle Neale, the triage nurse working on the night of her death, asked for Clarissa to have an ECG, blood tests and venous blood gas tests. She said the ambulance had told her she was hyperventilating, but they had regulated her breathing by talking to her.
Clarissa was taken to Royal Oldham Hospital for treatment(Image: Manchester Evening News)
The nurse ‘didn’t know’ why she gave her a disconnected mask and accepted she shouldn’t have done it. She added that it ‘did regulate her breathing’ and that Clarissa was ‘speaking in full sentences’.
Ms Neale then passed Clarissa to a more senior nurse and told her she would require a cubicle. However, Clarissa, who had low blood oxygen levels and a high heart rate, was then placed in a corridor for around an hour.
The senior nurse had told Ms Neale that Clarissa was ‘young so we’ll just keep an eye on her’ when she was put on fluids and left in the corridor, the Staff Nurse told the court.
“Normally, I would challenge it but Clarissa was talking to me. She could speak to me in full sentences,” Ms Neale said.
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“I remember her coming in. She was able to talk to me and she told me that she had been on holiday to the Canary Islands. I went back to Clarissa on the corridor and I asked her had [the oxygen mask] helped her and she said yes.”
She added a more senior nurse said they would give Clarissa some fluids and then reassess her with the view of sending her to an urgent treatment centre.
However, Clarissa was eventually taken to higher care to be treated by a doctor before deteriorating and sadly passing away in the early hours of August 14.
The inquest heard how, based on national guidelines, there was no need for her to be referred to haematology in 2017 at the time of her pulmonary embolism and no need for anticoagulants drugs to be used long term due to her embolism being provoked.
It was accepted that in hindsight a haematology referral and further tests might have helped Clarissa and may have revealed an under lying contributing factor. However, the inquest heard her embolism in 2024 was unprovoked and it ‘cannot be said that the two are linked’.
The inquest began on Wednesday, May 6, at Rochdale Coroner’s Court and is scheduled to last for three days, finishing on Friday, May 8.