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Family handout<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nA young woman died months after begging her GP for help with her chronic fatigue syndrome, an inquest heard. <\/p>\n Maeve Boothby-O\u2019Neill, 27, had written to her doctor asking for help with feeding as she was hungry.<\/p>\n Ms Boothby-O\u2019Neill had been diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME). She died at home in Exeter, Devon, in October 2021.<\/p>\n The inquest, which is scheduled to last two weeks, continues.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The hearing in Exeter heard that she had told her GP, Dr Lucy Shenton, in June 2021: “Dear Dr Shenton, I know you are doing your best for me, but I really need help with feeding. <\/p>\n “I do not understand why the hospital did not do anything to help when I went in. I am hungry, I want to eat.”<\/p>\n She continued: “I have been unable to sit up or chew since March and the only person helping me eat is my mum. I cannot get enough calories from a syringe.<\/p>\n “Please help me get enough food to live.”<\/p>\n She had been suffering from fatigue since the age of 13, which got worse after she completed her A-levels, and later struggled to maintain “any normality due to fatigue”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n A key witness at the inquest was Dr Shenton but earlier this month she told the coroner she was too ill to attend to give evidence.<\/p>\n The coroner told the hearing: “Dr Shenton felt the stress of Maeve’s tragic death would have a significant toll on her.”<\/p>\n The GP felt attending the hearing would “trigger a mental health breakdown” and Dr Shenton’s own GP said she was suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder, the coroner said.<\/p>\n Ms Boothby-O’Neill father, Sean O’Neill, a journalist with The Times newspaper, told the hearing: “Dr Shenton was Maeve’s GP, she knew Maeve for four years and had more contact with her then any other medical professional involved in her care.<\/p>\n “She was fond of Maeve. She recognised her intelligence, her desire to be cured of her awful illness and her capacity to make difficult decisions about her care.”<\/p>\n He said Dr Shenton told Maeve’s mother Sarah Boothby that she had “never seen anyone so poorly treated by the NHS as Maeve was”.<\/p>\n The hearing is focusing on Ms Boothby-O’Neill’s care from January 2021 until her death.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n According to medical notes, by July she was unable to read, watch TV or engage in conversations, and was only getting out of bed to use the toilet.<\/p>\n She was also unable to chew food and had difficulty drinking because she was not able to sit up.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Ms Boothby-O\u2019Neill had been admitted three times to the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital but was discharged each time and sent home, the inquest was told.<\/p>\n Dr Shenton\u2019s colleague, Dr Paul McDermott, said he was “slightly shocked” that, having admitted her to hospital in March 2021, she was sent home the same day.<\/p>\n Ms Boothby-O\u2019Neill\u2019s mother, Sarah Boothby, wrote to the GP practice manager in the April wanting to know what had “gone badly wrong” with the care of her daughter.<\/p>\n “Since 10 March, 2021, I have been the only person providing care for a person unable to sit, stand or chew,” she wrote.<\/p>\n “This is a long-term chronic condition without prognosis or treatment protocol. <\/p>\n “What is the plan for hydration, liquid, nourishment and transfers to a bedside commode in the community?<\/p>\n “You had arranged to speak by phone to me before the pandemic in February 2020. <\/p>\n “You did not call as arranged then and when I rang the surgery, they told me you were off sick.<\/p>\n “This case was urgent then and it is very urgent now.”<\/p>\n Ms Boothby described her daughter as an “exceptional” child and an A-grade student.<\/p>\n Mr O’Neill said of his daughter: “I especially wanted it to be remembered that she was a special big sister to Danny and Lily.<\/p>\n “Her death has been hard for Danny and Lily to understand. <\/p>\n “Illness stopped them knowing her better, but they knew her love and on her death bed she remembered them.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n‘Unable to engage’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
‘Difficult decisions’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
‘Very urgent’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n