Brit mum-of-two, 37, dies on Greek holiday after eating just ONE mouthful of raw chicken from hotel restaurant
Triathlete mum, Natalie Rawnsley, was on holiday with her husband and two little boys when she was struck down with food poisoning
A SUPER-FIT mum-of-two died after eating just one mouthful of under-cooked chicken at a Corfu hotel's restaurant.
Natalie Rawnsley, 37, was on holiday with her husband and two boys when she was struck down with food poisoning.
Her condition rapidly worsened in just 36 hours.
She was rushed to hospital where her husband, Stewart Rawnsley, said she was bleeding heavily.
She eventually died after blood clots formed all over her body, blocking the blood vessels.
Westminster Coroner's Court also heard the couple's insurance company insisted Natalie would not be moved from Corfu to a mainland hospital.
The family had been on holiday for a week already when the tragedy occurred last August.
At the beginning of the second week, the family of four went to one of the hotel's restaurants - a buffet - for dinner.
The children and Stewart ate pasta, bread and sausages.
Natalie ate a meal of chicken, salad, prawns and vegetables.
Natalie's husband said: "We were already at the table when Natalie came back with her food. Natalie started to eat hers and as she cut the chicken the chicken oozed red blood to which point I commented it looked bloody.
‘She got up, took it back and replaced the chicken with a different piece.’
Later that evening, she began to feel unwell.
The inquest heard that Natalie was diagnosed with gastroenteritis the following morning.
Her condition deteriorated so an ambulance was called in the afternoon to take her to a medical centre.
Later that evening she was moved to the Corfu hospital.
A nurse asked for Natalie to be taken to a hospital on the mainland which had better facilities.
The inquest heard that a nurse, who said she was the head of international medicine, said they wanted to fly Natalie to a hospital on the mainland, which had better facilities.
As Natalie's brother and niece arrived, her relatives gathered around her as she lay unconscious in the makeshift intensive care unit, the inquest heard.
Stewart added: "At around 1pm her brother and I notice her heart monitor was getting weaker and it continued.
"I screamed out and her brother screamed out. Medical assistance arrived and we were removed from the room.
"We were outside the door and they were in there five or ten minutes and then the same nurse came out and apologised as there wasn't anything more she could do, and Natalie died."
The inquest heard that Natalie, who was otherwise fit and healthy, probably became so seriously ill from food poisoning because of her genes.
Infections expert Professor Sebastien Lucas said: “It depends on what your genes are. It seems like Mrs Rawsley had the wrong genes - to put it crudely.
”Assuming it is an E-Coli infection - coming from uncooked chicken seems a very reasonable theory.
“The point I also made in my report is how it escalates.
”There's a tipping point when it starts producing DIC. By definition, once it starts doing that, you are doomed.
“It's a very rapid process and so the chronology I heard from Mr Rawnsley fits to a 't' with that view.
The coroner recorded a verdict of death by the accidental consumption of E-Coli infected chicken.
She concluded: "I think it seems very clear-cut.
"The most common infection that causes this condition is E-Coli.
"We have to consider its very patient-specific, some patients will be susceptible to this and some will not.
"There's nothing anyone can do to reverse it."
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