'She died in that waiting room' Sister's A&E death was avoidable, says twin

In life, Inga Rublite was just another patient in a busy hospital waiting to see a doctor. In death, the 39-yearold has become a tragic symbol of how overstretched and overburdened the NHS has become.

- Jessica Murray

Rublite died after being found unconscious under her coat in an A&E waiting room more than eight hours after arriving. Learning what happened to Rublite in the hours before her death has been gut-wrenching for her friends and family.

She sat through the night at Queen's Medical Centre (QMC) in Nottingham after arriving at 10.30pm on 19 January with severe headache, dizziness, high blood pressure and vomiting. When her name was called seven hours later, at about 5.30am, she didn't respond and staff discharged her believing she gone home.

But over an hour later she was discovered having a seizure after falling asleep under her coat. She was rushed to intensive care but had suffered a brain haemorrhage, with bleeding so severe it was inoperable. She was declared dead two days later on 22 January, when her life support was switched off.

"I think she basically died in that waiting room," said Inga's twin sister, Inese Briede. "No one was doing anything for her. And by the time they found her, it was too late." She was very close to her identical twin, despite the fact Inese lives in their home country of Latvia. "We would talk on the phone every day, three times, sometimes more," she said.

The pair had moved to the UK together in 2004 after finishing school - when Inese moved back home in 2008, Inga stayed on, gaining GCSEs, steady work in Nottingham and becoming the mother of two sons, now 13 and 11.