‘Our valuable daughter is useless at 22 after being left on her personal in hospital’
Elyse Foster, known as the ‘Queen of Snapchat’, died from natural causes after an unwitnessed cardiac arrest at Royal Stoke University Hospital, an inquest heard
Elyse Foster sadly died
Mystery surrounds why a ‘bright and beautiful’ young woman suddenly stopped breathing and later died after being briefly left on her own in hospital. An inquest has found that Elyse Foster – known as the ‘Queen of Snapchat’ – passed away from ‘natural causes’ at the age of just 22.
However, her grief-stricken family, from Cheddleton, believe more could have been done to save Elyse and questioned aspects of her care during the hearing.
Former Westwood College student Elyse – who was battling a rare cancer called thymoma and suffered from auto-immune condition myasthenia gravis – was in the Royal Stoke University Hospital’s critical care unit following surgery to remove tumours on September 20, 2024. She then stopped breathing and suffered a cardiac arrest on October 7.
Although Elyse survived, tests revealed that she had sustained brain damage and her life support machine was switched off 10 days later.
The inquest heard her mum Kirsty Tittensor had remained with her daughter overnight before departing at 8.45am on October 7 as she had an appointment. Dr Alison Evans then visited Treetops Court Care Home employee Elyse – who was training to become a children’s nurse – at 10.20am and her observations were said to be normal, reports Stoke on Trent Live.
But just a short time later, Elyse went into cardiac arrest and vomit was found in her mouth. However, the inquest heard it was unknown whether Elyse had aspirated on the food she had consumed, or whether she aspirated during CPR.
Her family are of the belief that if she had been seen by the Speech and Language Therapy team and kept intubated instead of being fed, she would still be with us today.
In a joint statement, Kirsty and Elyse’s grandmother, Joy Tittensor, said: “A nurse said around 9.30am Elyse vomited a little, so she cleaned her up and she went back to sleep. We as a family believe she vomited again, causing her to choke and stop breathing. She had been left on her own and we believe this led to her cardiac arrest.
“She stopped breathing but we don’t know how long for, the nurse was not there – why was she left alone? If someone had been there she would be alive, but now our precious, bright, beautiful daughter is dead. It had been the first time in two weeks she was given food orally, so why was no one with her? If someone had been there and had seen she couldn’t breathe she would still be alive now.
“I have many notes from Elyse which communicate about how she was feeling about being left alone, and how she was feeling generally about being in hospital.
“The doctor did a review at 10.15am that day but she managed to be brain dead just 20 minutes later. Lessons need to be learned and policy changed, we cannot keep failing young people. There has to be accountability, we can never bring Elyse back but we believe we could save somebody else.”
However, Dr Evans, a cardiothoracic anaesthetist who worked with Elyse, along with three other doctors and a nurse, all concurred that the cause of the aspiration was unclear. This was despite Nick Coleman, a consultant at the same hospital trust, asserting ‘it’s likely she aspirated the food she had inadequately swallowed’.
Coroner Emma Serrano concluded on the balance of probabilities that Elyse’s death was due to natural causes. She stated: “The doctors I’ve relied on have all seen Elyse, but Mr Coleman had not seen her, and when I questioned him about his basis around stepping away from what the other doctors had said, I wasn’t satisfied with the explanation he had given. I was satisfied with the explanation of the other four doctors.
“Whatever caused the cardiac arrest was a natural cause. I haven’t heard any evidence suggesting anything was unnatural, for example trauma or third party intervention, and all the options put forward that could have led to cardiac arrest, such as vomiting, arrhythmia, or a lack of oxygen are all natural.
“I am satisfied on the balance of probabilities that Elyse Joy Foster died on October 17 2024 as a result of a natural cause. She was a young lady who suffered from myasthenia gravis and was diagnosed with a metastatic carcinoma.
“On October 7 she had an unwitnessed cardiac arrest. Five-minutes prior her observations were in ranges not concerning, but when the nurse came back into the room Elyse was in cardiac arrest and CPR was given. Her circulation was restored but there was a lack of oxygen to the brain and caused injuries from which she wasn’t able to recover.
“We do not know what precisely caused the cardiac arrest but it was caused by a natural cause. Elyse died as a result of part one hypoxic ischemic enteropathy and aspirated pneumonia, part 2 metastatic carcinoma.”
