A mental health patient died from a lack of oxygen to the brain after a self-harm incident in a hospital, an inquest has heard.
Louise Furlong was 19 when she died on September 12, 2022, after being found unresponsive in her bathroom at Highbury Hospital, run by Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, the day before.
At the inquest at Nottingham Coroner’s Court on Wednesday (February 18), the jury heard from forensic pathologist Frances Hollingbury, who confirmed Louise’s medical cause of death from her examinations.
She was found to have sustained a hypoxic ischaemic brain injury caused by the application of a ligature around the neck.
She said that otherwise Louise was healthy, with no visible physical issues with her heart, lungs or brain.
Questioned by the barrister representing Louise’s family, Ms Hollingbury agreed that the teenager would likely have been able to “hold out” for longer without oxygen to her brain than an older, unhealthier person.
But she could not help to ascertain how long Louise might have spent unconscious before she was found at 7.09 pm on the evening of September 11.
Ms Hollingbury testified that Louise’s cold, grey and bluish presentation was not necessarily indicative of how long she had been without oxygen.
Nor is there any minimum length of time that each stage of hypoxic ischaemic brain injury – loss of consciousness, respiratory arrest and cardiac arrest – lasts, again meaning that it was not possible to tell, from the fact that she was not breathing when she was found, how long she had lain undiscovered.
When she was discovered by healthcare assistant Maryam Bwala, the emergency alarm was sounded in the hospital, and a response began.
Questions were raised at the inquest by the family barrister over why it took seven minutes for staff to ring for an ambulance after Louise was found.
Witnesses testified that they were medically trained in providing CPR and dealt with similar situations all the time in which ambulances were not required.
Paramedics arrived and did manage to restart her heart at 7.55 pm, nearly 45 minutes after she had been found on September 11.
But she remained unconscious and went back into cardiac arrest at 8.15 pm.
Her heart was restarted again 15 minutes later and she was taken to Queen’s Medical Centre, where she underwent a CT scan and was later taken to intensive care.
She died at 12.30 am on the morning of September 12.
After a police investigation, a healthcare worker, Sylwia Quaye-Mensah, was charged with neglect in connection with the death.
She pleaded guilty on November 18, 2025, and evidence at the inquest showed her sitting on a sofa in a communal area of the hospital ward when she should have been checking on Louise.
The inquest continues.
• Louise Furlong: Patient moved despite warning not to send her to Highbury, inquest told
• 19-year-old died 5 days after unannounced transfer between Nottinghamshire hospitals
