Leigh Rogers: Woman dies at University Hospital after having CT scan for toothache

A woman has died after being taken to hospital with a toothache following her dentist telling her she would need to wait weeks for an appointment.

Leigh Rodgers, 34, had called her local dental surgery after already living in pain for two weeks to beg for an appointment. She was told that they could not squeeze her in and that she would need to wait weeks to be seen.

Her partner, Darren, understanding the immense pain Ms Rogers was in, called an ambulance which took her to a University Hospital in North Durham in the UK.

At an inquest into Ms Rodgers’ death, her partner Darren told the court: “She had been experiencing toothache for around 10-14 days.”

“In the past, the pain had subsided with painkillers, but that wasn’t working this time.

“Leigh went to work on the morning of March 7, and had tried to get a dentist appointment but couldn’t for weeks.

“She couldn’t wait that long. I called the ambulance and the paramedics came, and then we went to the hospital.”

Ms Rodgers hoped she would be helped with her pain, instead, hours later she was dead.

At the hospital, Ms Rodgers was told she would need a CT scan so that doctors could rule out Lugwig’s angina, a potentially fatal bacterial infection that can come from a tooth infection.

The CT scan involved Ms Rodgers being given an iodine-based special dye that helps with viability in the scans.

“We thought nothing of her being asked to go for the CT scan. She was in the doctor’s hands at that point,” Darren told the court.

However, after the scan started, Darren saw a “rush of people go into the room”, later finding out that Ms Rodgers had “suffered a reaction”.

While in the machine having her scan completed, Ms Rodgers went into anaphylactic shock and could not be resuscitated.

A post-mortem determined the reaction was caused by the iodine-based special dye that was given to Ms Rodgers after she was told that she needed the scan.

Crispin Oliver, a senior assistant coroner in County Durhan said the death was caused by “severe refractory anaphylaxis to contrast media”.

“This is a death in very unusual circumstances, and it is extremely unfortunate,” he added.

Dr Oliver Moore, who works with the University Hospital where Ms Rodgers died, said: “CT scans do come with a risk of reaction, but this is the single case of this situation in my practice, and I believe that there was no delay in administering treatment”.