A daughter has raged at doctors as she claims a clear misdiagnosis meant that her mother died instead of receiving treatment.
Many people delay getting checked when they feel unwell, but one woman took her symptoms seriously and sought medical help.
Her family says that, despite doing the right thing, she later died suddenly—leaving them devastated and angry about what they believe could have been avoided.
Leah McGrann, 25, has spoken about losing her mother and the questions she says still surround the care her mum received before her death.
Leah’s mother, 54-year-old Tracey McGrann, was found dead at her home in Birkenhead in 2024. Leah said her younger sister, who was 16 at the time, discovered her only hours after Tracey had been out for the evening.
Leah spoke to Medical Negligence Assist and told the organization: “My little sister called me up in hysterics to say, ‘I found mum dead’. I didn’t believe her, and she said, ‘Leah, the paramedics confirmed she’s dead’.
“She was out in the pub the night before for one of her friends’ birthdays, went to bed and died – no one could believe it; her mates, who she had just seen hours before her death, couldn’t. Mum was so young at heart, we thought she was going to outlive all of us.”
An inquest later concluded Tracey died from ischemic heart disease (IHD), a condition linked to narrowed arteries.
After her mother’s death, Leah said she began thinking back to earlier medical appointments and the steps Tracey took when she experienced symptoms.
Three months before she died, Tracey attended St Catherine’s Health Centre in her hometown after reporting chest pain symptoms to her doctor.
She underwent an electrocardiogram (ECG). Days later, Leah said, Tracey received a text message with the results telling her to go to A&E immediately.
Tracey then had another ECG performed in the emergency department, with results available straight away. Leah said her mother took a photograph of the ECG.
According to Leah, Tracey was discharged within minutes and reassured she was “fine”, and was told her GP had caused her unnecessary worry. Leah also alleges the ECG was not signed off at the hospital, despite an abnormality later being identified.
Leah says that when she later reviewed her mother’s photo, it included the words: “moderate T-wave abnormality, consider anterior ischemia”.
Leah noted: “The text message she received from her GP instructing her to go to A&E was sent on the same day. It all matched, and it even flagged up ‘consider ischemia’, which they did not.”
Leah said she later sought advice and spoke with a senior medical negligence solicitor at JF Law, and claims she was told the situation should have been handled differently.
She continued: “The trust showed me a form that said something along the lines of ‘what happened and what could we have done differently’. On it, it mentioned that the ECG should’ve been signed electronically – but there was no signature.
“During the meeting, I asked the medical professionals what duty of care did they give to my mum – they replied they didn’t. I asked them why was my mum discharged within minutes of doing that ECG – they had no response.
“If a doctor had signed the ECG off then at least we would’ve known who was to blame. If they just looked at the ECG mum would’ve been on some pathway to receiving treatment. One of the directors, who was a top medical professional, even stated that if he was on duty that night, my mum would have been admitted and transferred straight to cardiology.
When asked to respond to the death of Tracey McGrann a spokesperson for Wirral University Teaching Hospital, where she went to A & E, said: “The Trust cares for hundreds of thousands of patients every year across emergency, specialist and community services and the provision of safe care is our top priority.
“When issues are identified or on the rare occasion that things do go wrong, we ensure learning is embedded into our patient safety and learning processes.
“Where appropriate, incidents are investigated in line with national NHS processes and with NHS Resolution, which manages clinical negligence claims on behalf of all NHS organizations.”