A 20-year-old Swedish woman named Yara died from septic shock after a rapid deterioration. She developed a headache and began vomiting after a family gathering in Borås, and her fever rose to 39 degrees Celsius the following day. Her family called the Swedish healthcare advice line 1177 and then took her to the emergency department in Mölndal, where her condition deteriorated rapidly; she lost consciousness, had a seizure, and developed septic shock. Yara was connected to an ECMO machine at Sahlgrenska University Hospital, but her treatment was discontinued after nine days in intensive care. The cause of her sepsis is unknown. Yara had a congenital heart defect, and her doctor, a pediatric cardiologist, quadrupled the dose of her heart medication in the months before her death. Her parents were told no mistakes were made in her care after they inquired about the cause of her death.
In another case, Joshua Abbot-Littler, 20, died from sepsis on June 26. He had previously beaten Hodgkin lymphoma in May 2024, and was diagnosed with treatment-induced acute myeloid leukemia on June 8. A coroner concluded he contracted a bacterial infection due to cross-contamination from inadequate hand hygiene on the ward. The strain of bacteria that caused his critical care admission was the same as that of another patient on the ward. His cause of death was multiple organ failure caused by multidrug-resistant sepsis spread through cross-contamination.
Aleisha Rochester, 33, died from sepsis two weeks after a routine procedure to remove an abscess from her left armpit. A coroner ruled that her death was contributed to by neglect and she would likely have lived if given the correct antibiotics in time. She was prescribed antibiotics that were not effective against the bacteria causing her infection and were not in line with hospital guidelines. Aleisha Rochester had hidradenitis suppurativa.
Zoe Tighe, 22, died from sepsis on June 26, 2023. She was 14 weeks pregnant at her death, but the baby had already died. She visited James Paget Hospital's emergency department four times over six weeks with lower abdominal pain but was not given a pregnancy test. Zoe Tighe had developed bladder fibrosis (ketamine bladder) from ketamine misuse.
Diarra Brown, 28, died on October 26, 2021, days after undergoing cosmetic surgery including a BBL, liposuction, and arm lift in Turkey. The most likely cause of her death was sepsis.
Charlotte Murphy, 26, died of natural causes on August 22, 2023, after battling anorexia and bulimia since age 11. She was repeatedly denied access to eating disorder treatment, being told she was 'too thin' or 'not thin enough'. She was never admitted to an inpatient unit for her eating disorder.