A Finchley teenager has hit out at Barnet Hospital for sending her mother home with headache pills days before she slipped into a fatal coma.

Lorraine King, 44, died from a brain haemorrhage on Friday, September 12, more than a month after she was in a car accident, leaving her daughter Hannah to care for her two young siblings.

On August 6 her Chrysler Voyager collided with a scrap metal lorry, which did not stop, near Henlys Corner.

Initially Ms King did not think she was hurt, but as her condition worsened doctors and paramedics failed on two occasions to diagnose anything more than whiplash.

Hannah, 18, said: “She was having headaches for a couple of weeks after the accident but by September 3 she was completely out of it. She couldn’t talk, she couldn’t move.”

Ms King’s family called paramedics to their home, but they said she was suffering from muscle strain, according to Hannah. When she did not get better they took her to Barnet Hospital, in Wellhouse Lane, but she was not admitted.

It was not until they got a letter from their GP asking for an MRI scan that she was admitted to hospital, on September 9. She fell into a coma and died three days later.

“They didn’t even give her a scan until we went to the GP,” said Hannah. “When we took her to hospital she was sprawled out across the chairs for four hours.

“If they had taken her in that first time we went I believe she would still be alive.”

Hannah now cares for her 14-year-old sister and 16-year-old brother, who suffers from autism, at their home in Summerfields Avenue, North Finchley.

“My brother is severely disabled and he doesn’t sleep,” she said. “I’m up 24/7 looking after him because my mum used to do it. It’s very hard.”

A spokesman for Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust said she could not comment on the case due to patient confidentiality.

She added: “We have not received a formal complaint from the patient’s family. We would encourage the patient’s family to contact our PALS department so we can investigate and respond to the patient's family directly.

“We offer our sincere condolences to the family and wish to assure them that we are taking this very seriously.”

Police are keen to speak to any witnesses to the incident. Anyone with information can contact the collision investigation unit on 020 8998 5319.