Gym staff failed to spot woman’s fatal epileptic fit in pool, inquest hears

Brain injury: Catherine Gibbon died after she suffered an epileptic shock in the pool and was starved of oxygen
Kiran Randhawa15 October 2018

A woman died after gym staff failed to notice she had suffered an epileptic fit in the pool, an inquest was told.

Catherine Gibbon, 44, was captured “twitching” on CCTV 14 minutes before an ambulance was called to Fitness First in Tottenham Court Road.

In the footage Miss Gibbon lay unconscious in the water for three to four minutes before floating out of view.

The camera for the area where she had floated had been broken for a week, St Pancras coroner’s court was told. The alarm was eventually raised by other pool users.

Miss Gibbon received first aid from a doctor, who had been using the sauna, and a personal trainer before paramedics arrived.

She was taken to St Thomas’ hospital where she was pronounced dead the following day.

The inquest was told she had suffered a “devastating brain injury” as a result of a lack of oxygen.

The court was told the emergency call was made at 6.03pm, 14 minutes after CCTV captured Miss Gibbon having a seizure.

The camera was linked to a screen in the reception area, but staff failed to notice she was in difficulty.

Delivering a narrative verdict, the inquest jury concluded that the “main contributing factor” in Miss Gibbon’s death was the “inadequate supervision of the monitor resulting in a delay in discovering Catherine in the pool”.

Additional factors were found to be the “failure of multiple members of staff to report the broken camera” and the time taken to contact paramedics.

Miss Gibbon was an events manager from Pinner, Harrow. Her sister Beth said: “We do not believe any of the changes made at the [gym] would prevent a further death in a similar pool.”

A spokesman for DW Fitness First said: “We have already undertaken our own thorough investigation and this work is ongoing to consider the findings of the jury following the inquest.

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