Sheila Margaret Collins

Sheila Margaret Collins was found dead in her dead at Mendip Hospital in Horrington on 5 August 1959.

Her cause of death was given as asphyxia due to suffocation whilst in an epileptic fit.

She had been admitted to the hospital in 1953 as a chronic epileptic. She was said to have had on average two daily and two nightly fits during a month which meant that she had had some 15-25 convulsions in a year.

A doctor said that he was called to Sheila Collins bed at about 6.05am on 5 August 1959 and found her to be dead and that in his opinion she had been dead for at least two hours.

A night superintendent at the hospital who had lived in Mill House, Croscombe, said that she had visited the ward that Sheila Collins had been on at about 4.10am on 5 August 1959 and spoke to the nurse on duty there and also saw Sheila Collins, noting that she noticed her turn in her bed as she walked through the ward.

She told the inquest that a nurse on duty might have had to attend to two or three patients having fits on  any particular night.

She said that there were 59 patients in the ward under immediate observation and about 44 other patients that didn't need constant observation.

She said that when she returned to the ward at 6am she saw the nurse there and that when she then went through the ward that she observed that Sheila Collins was lying on her face in her bed and that when she examined her that she found that she was dead.

She noted that Sheila Collins's face was pressed into the pillow.

When the Coroner asked her how long he felt that she had been in that position she told him, 'I should say some time, perhaps an hour'.

When the Coroner asked the night superintendent whether Sheila Collins could have had an epileptic fit silently she said, 'A nurse who was at a distance may not have heard her'. She added that it was not a noisy ward at night.

When she was asked whether it was possible for Sheila Collins to be on her face for an hour without being observed, the night superintendent said, 'I observed it, perhaps someone with less experience may not have noticed it'. When the Coroner asked her, 'You noticed it?', the night superintendent said, 'Yes, but it was then daylight but noted that the ward was unusually lit and that the there were quite good lights.

A nurse that had lived in Churchill Road in Wells and was employed at the hospital said that she did her rounds of the ward at 5.30am and noticed that Sheila Collins had been alive then. She said that she noticed that Sheila Collins had then been lying on her side and that she could see the side of her face. She said that she shone her torch at her bed but didn't speak to her.

When the Coroner mentioned to the nurse that the doctor that had seen Sheila Collins at 6am had thought that she had been dead for at least two hours, making her time of death around 4am, the nurse said that she heard nothing and that she had also questioned other patients next to Sheila Collins who had told her that they had also heard nothing. She added that she didn't deal with any patients that night that had been in a fit.

When she was asked how many times she had seen Sheila Collins that night she replied, 'Many times'.

When she was asked when she could definitely say she last saw Sheila Collins, she replied, 'At 4.15am when the Sister went through the ward', and when she was asked whether she was prepared to admit that Sheila Collins might have died soon after 4.15am she replied, 'She was definitely alive at 4.15', and admitted that she might have died any time after that if she had had a quiet fit.

When she was further questioned, she agreed that her inspections did not reveal that any patient had had a fit, saying, 'Every time I looked at her she appeared to be alive'.

When the Coroner asked the nurse how many times she saw Sheila Collins after 4.15am the nurse said, 'I went around the ward regularly. I don't know how this happened'.

When the Coroner summed up he said that he had had considerable difficulty in establishing Sheila Collins's time of death, noting that he had been told that Sheila Collins had been alive at 4.15am whilst the doctor had said that she had died between 4am and 6am. He said, 'I cannot accept the evidence of the nurse which she gave at the opening of the enquiry on August 6th, that deceased was alive half an hour before she was found at 6pm with her face in the pillow'.

He added that he had had a report from the pathologist stating that her death was due to asphyxia due to suffocation, but noted that it was only surmise that the suffocation had occurred during an epileptic fit, saying, 'One could only assume that was what happened’. The Coroner went on to say, 'I have considerable difficulty in establishing the exact time of death. I am told by the Sister that the patient was alive at 4.14am. I was greatly impressed by the evidence of this witness. The nurse agreed that deceased may have died at any time after 4am. She said she made a round of the ward regularly and saw nothing to suggest that the deceased may have died'.

The Coroner then reiterated that there was little or no evidence to show how Sheila Collins was suffocated and that having regard to all the circumstances that there must be an open verdict, recording that Sheila Collins died from asphyxia, due to suffocation, and adding that there was not sufficient evidence to show how such suffocation came about.