Aspiring barrister, 20, was treated 'like a time-waster' in hospital by doctors who sent her home before she died in agony, inquest hears Libby Instone, a 20-year-old aspiring barrister and Newcastle University law student, died in agony after being repeatedly dismissed as a “time-waster” by staff at North Tees University Hospital. She visited the urgent care centre three times in just over 24 hours in August 2023 with severe vomiting and abdominal pain, only to be misdiagnosed with gastroenteritis and sent home twice without proper examination or scans. On her final visit she waited nine hours in A&E, was given a drip and painkillers, then admitted, but it was too late. She collapsed at home the next day and could not be saved. An inquest in Middlesbrough ruled her death was contributed to by neglect and “gross failures in care”, with multiple missed opportunities to spot a blocked small intestine that a simple scan and operation could have fixed. Her devastated mother Susan said: “Libby was treated as an annoyance, a time-waster and was never shown any compassion.” The coroner recorded a narrative conclusion highlighting the failure to investigate persistent symptoms despite four days of black vomit and extreme pain.
