A teenager who had been given just two weeks to live before a heart transplant died after doctors misdiagnosed her with food poisoning while her body rejected the donor organ.
Jessica Brooks, 18, was rushed to hospital in January 2017 - almost a year after the heart transplant surgery which had 'transformed' her life.
The family of the 'wonderful and happy' student was told by staff at Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham, Kent, she was suffering from gastroenteritis, food poisoning, and later sepsis.
But she died the same day, with a post mortem later discovering her body had been rejecting the donor heart.
Jessica Brooks (pictured), 18, was rushed to hospital in January 2017 - almost a year after the heart transplant surgery which had 'transformed' her life
An internal hospital report into the teenager's death revealed that nurses had pleaded with medics to assess her - but they failed to treat her for several hours.
It read: 'Despite multiple attempts by the nursing staff, there was a significant delay in a doctor attending the unit.
'Discussion with the pathologist who conducted the post mortem indicates that the cause of the death was rejection of the transplant. The pathologist found no evidence of sepsis.'
Jessica's mother launched a legal battle against Medway NHS Trust and according to the family's lawyer, no doctors assessed the teenager for organ rejection, leading to her 'needless and avoidable death'.
An internal hospital report into the teenager's (pictured) death revealed that nurses had pleaded with medics to assess her - but they failed to treat her for several hours
Distraught mother Emily who held her 'wonderful' daughter during her last moments said she believed Jessica would still be alive if she wasn't misdiagnosed.
'I've been told that if she had been diagnosed properly she may still be here today,' she explained.
'She would have received her anti-rejection medication and my wonderful daughter may well still be alive here with me.
'I went home from the hospital to change my clothes and have a bite to eat and told them to call me if something happened.
'I was only away for an hour. I went to hold her but she made this awful sound, had her eyes open and looked like she was having a fit. I later learned that this was the death rattle.'
The mother launched a legal battle and claimed she told hospital staff that her daughter wasn't responding to drugs.
She said: 'It's incredible that they could have got the diagnosis and her treatment so wrong, despite me repeatedly telling them that Jess wasn't keeping down her
