The family of a 16-year-old girl who died due to a blood clot in her brain weeks after starting to take birth control pills have criticized the care she received from the NHS. According to them, the health service said that the young woman did not have any serious symptoms even after the initial consultation.

Teenager died from a blood clot in the brain after taking birth control – Photo: Reproduction/DailyMail/ND

The 16-year-old girl was Leila Khan from Immingham, UK, who died last Wednesday (age 13) after a test revealed a blood clot in her brain.

The student began experiencing painful menstrual cycles and friends advised her to take birth control pills to ease her symptoms. She started taking it on November 25th, but by December 5th she started having headaches and started vomiting at the end of the week.

The concerned family contacted the NHS 111 helpline and were told there was nothing to worry about and that they should take her to an appointment the next morning.

Young man loses consciousness

However, on Monday evening, the young woman screamed in pain and passed out in her bathtub at home. The family took her to Hull Royal Infirmary where a CT scan discovered a blood clot in her brain.

Leila underwent emergency surgery but died two days later, leaving her family devastated.

A young man died after taking contraceptives – Photo: Reproduction/DailyMail/ND

Blood clot in the brain

Layla’s aunt, Jenna Braithwaite, stated:

“On Sunday evening she was vomiting violently, every 30 minutes. Although she kept vomiting at the doctor’s office, they gave her antibiotics and told her they thought it was a stomach virus. They said that there are no signs of risk, we need to go to the hospital, only on Wednesday, if it continues,” he comments.

On Monday, Layla began screaming in pain and the family called 111 again. They were told to make an appointment with emergency doctors, but there were no appointments available.

The Immingham family then took her to hospital in Grimsby. There they waited for four hours for emergency help while Layla drifted in and out of consciousness and suffered seizures.

A nurse noticed Leila’s difficulties and took her to another room, where she was treated for seizures. At that time, doctors still said it could be an infection, and after 12 hours in the hospital, Leila was put on a ventilator.

Leila underwent a CT scan, which discovered a blood clot in her brain. She was then transferred to Hull Royal Infirmary where she died on 13 December.

Just a few days earlier, on November 25, Leila started taking the birth control pill Rigevidon, which lists blood clots as one of the rare but potential side effects.

The family believes this could have been a potential cause of the blood clot in his brain and that doctors should have caught it sooner.

Jenna said: “We feel there is someone to blame, we believe Grimsby Hospital did not act quickly enough to save her, we believe she could have been saved if she had not been in A&E for so long .

“If only the doctor had realized when she went and noticed the pill. The fact that they said there were no serious signs, but a few days later she was brain dead, is incomprehensible,” he recalls.

Kate Wood, medical director of North Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust, said:

“I would like to express my deepest condolences to the family at this very sad time. As happens in such cases, we are working with other agencies to further investigate,” he concludes.