A WOMAN was sent home from hospital in agony twice before collapsing with a strangulated bowel.

Now Emma Jordan, 32, has been awarded £14,000 in damages after she begged doctors at Darlington Memorial Hospital to let her stay as she was in so much pain – but was discharged on two occasions.

She was on the strongest painkillers usually reserved for cancer patients and was still in agony, but doctors made the decision to send her home, where she had a young child and noone to look after her.

She was also told by doctors that her history of depression and anxiety was exaggerating her pain.

Days later she collapsed in agony and had to be rushed back in for emergency surgery.

Ms Jordan, who has a young daughter, was unable to care for her properly for a year due to ongoing problems following the surgery and her child had to live with her grandmother for that time.

The travelling care assistant had initially been suffering with severe abdominal pain in 2015 and her GP referred her to Darlington Memorial hospital with suspected appendicitis. He was so concerned that the GP receptionist actually drove her to the hospital immediately rather than wait for an ambulance.

Ms Jordan said: “I was in agony by the time I got to hospital, I couldn’t lay flat or go to the toilet. I’d told the doctors I hadn’t been to the toilet for several days, but they didn’t give me any medication to help with this.”

She said she was left in agony for a further two days before doctors began planning to discharge her.

When she begged them to do something they carried out a laparoscopy, a keyhole surgery to help diagnose the condition, and doctors said they believed she might have endometriosis – but this was not confirmed at the time by a gynaecologist.

She was later discharged, despite having noone to care for her at home, and she later collapsed as one of the incisions from her surgery had reopened. She was sent home again.

Once she was able to see a gynaecological expert at a new hospital, they said the scan pictures did not show endometriosis and thought she would need a hysterectomy.

Ms Jordan was in the operating theatre for six hours and needed bowel surgery as her bowel was not where it should have been – it was near her rib cage and covered in adhesions. A bowel surgeon was called in to carry out an emergency procedure.

She said: "The doctor was appalled that the previous doctors had not called in a gynaecological expert when the initial laparoscopy was performed."

After the operation, she was no longer in agonising pain, but could not do anything for 12 weeks while she recovered.

She had to rely on friends and family for help, lost two stone in weight and was on painkillers for over a year.

Neil Fearn, Chief Executive Officer at Pryers Solicitors, which handled her claim, said: “The NHS were not prepared to accept responsibility and didn’t feel that Emma’s pain and recovery were exacerbated by the care she received. However we were able to prove that Emma did not receive a reasonable standard of care."

A spokesperson for County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust said, “Our priority is delivering safe, quality care and experience to the two million patient contacts we have every year. When claims are made, they are fully investigated and we promote a culture of openness in recognising, reporting and learning when care doesn’t go as planned. We follow national processes to resolve claims."