THE death of a Bury schoolgirl who suffered a cardiac arrest due to the presence of a rare cyst in her brain was unavoidable, an inquest heard.

A pathologist told Rochdale Coroner’s Court that an undetected colloid cyst was the most likely cause of Shazel Zaman’s death in the early hours of April 18, 2016.

Shazel, aged 13, had received a cervical cancer jab at The Derby High School on April 13, and was taken to Fairfield Hospital four days later after reporting suffering severe headaches, vomiting and dizziness.

She was sent home with a stomach infection, and was put to bed, but an hour later was found unconscious with no pulse.

She was taken back to hospital where she died three hours later.

The girl’s family initially feared her death may have been linked to the HPV injection, however, Melanie Newbould, a paediatric pathologist at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, told the court that she found no evidence of this.

Coroner Lisa Hashmi said that the focus of the two-day inquest was instead on the standard of care provided by Pennine Acute NHS Trust.

A family member told the court that she was ‘unhappy’ with the care Shazel received, and that staff did not seem to be concerned about the fact she had collapsed twice while at the hospital.

The court heard how upon arrival at Fairfield, Shazel was put into a wheelchair and assessed by Dr Yasmin Woods, a junior doctor who had only been working there for two weeks.

Dr Woods, who no longer works at the trust, told the inquest that she allowed Shazel to be discharged because she had been reassured by senior colleagues that the girl was only suffering from a stomach infection.

Before discharging Shazel, she phoned Dr Wasim Asif, a locum paediatric registrar working for the trust and based at North Manchester General Hospital, for reassurance.

The inquest heard that Dr Woods informed Dr Asif of Shazel’s symptoms and the results of tests she had carried out, however, failed to mention the fact that Shazel had collapsed, as she “did not want him to think the patient was being dramatic”.

He came to the same conclusion that Shazel was suffering from a stomach infection and recommended her discharge.

Dr Asif told the court that he did not recall the conversation, or anything else about the patient, but that he would not have made the recommendation if he had been told that she had collapsed.

Shazel, of South Bank Road, Bury, was then sent home, despite a family member asking if she could be examined by another doctor.

Expert evidence presented in court by Dr Roger Strachan, a consultant neurosurgeon, showed that the stomach infection diagnosis had been incorrect and that he had “no doubts that any CT scan would have shown the cyst and a referral to a neurosurgeon would have taken place”.

However, he said that the girl’s behaviour did not clearly suggest a brain problem, and that even if a scan had been carried out then it was unlikely that the cyst could have been treated quickly enough to prevent her death.

An internal investigation carried out by the trust was summarised in court, and revealed that there had been a policy of ringing for a doctor’s advice instead of actually referring a patient.

It came to the conclusion that Shazel should have been examined by a more senior doctor and that communication between doctors was unclear.

A spokesperson for Pennine Acute NHS Trust told the court that the trust "was not in a good place back then,” and that a number of improvements have been made since, including a policy that no telephone advice should be given out between doctors.

Recording a conclusion of death by natural causes, Ms Hashmi said: “Despite the catalogue of errors and omissions identified by the trust’s investigation, little if anything further could have been done to save Shazel.

“There were a number of missed opportunities but those could not be significantly linked to the deceased’s death."

Ms Hashmi criticised the poor communication between doctors and lack of support given to Dr Woods who, she says, did the right thing by referring the case to her senior colleagues.

She welcomed the trust’s investigation and said that she found the improvements made since to be “very reassuring.”