Talented artist Evelyn, 20, died on her mother's bed

But those dreams were shattered when Evelyn Purchase died of severe pneumonia on her mother's bed less than 36 hours after being sent home by an out-of-hours GP with antibiotics for a chest infection.

The 20-year-old, from Butchers Lane, Cradley, near Halesowen, died in the early hours of April 6 last year. Black Country senior coroner Robin Balmain raised concerns over her care in the hours before her death, describing it as a 'tragedy'.

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Her mother Tara, a 41 year old lecturer at Halesowen College, believes more should have been done to try and save her daughter's life.

Evelyn, who liked rock bands including Paramore,started feeling unwell around the previous Christmas while staying at her aunt Janet's house where she was living while she studied at Hereford College of Arts. Dudley Coroner's Court heard that Evelyn, who had previously also attended Cradley High School and Halesowen College, had been diagnosed with sinusitis.

She was given antibiotics but Mrs Purchase told an inquest the medic requested she resisted taking the drug for a few days to see if she would get better without needing them. But, after going back to stay with her mother and sister Dana at the family home in Cradley, her condition did not improve over the next few weeks.

She started to take the drug when she moved back to Hereford to restart college but it gave her side-effects which required a further prescription on March 28.

Her deterioration had caused her to lose her appetite, only eating foods like soups, stews and rice pudding, and she had also developed mouth ulcers and impetigo.

In desperation her mother called the health advice number NHS 111 on April 4 before deciding to take her up to see the out-of-hours GP at Dudley's Holly Hall Clinic. They were able to go in to see Dr Mahmud Ahmed at 9.58pm, Dudley Coroner's Court was told yesterday. He consulted notes sent to him following the conversation with the operator on the advice line which highlighted concerns about whether she was 'starving herself'.

Mr Balmain questioned why Dr Ahmed had not recorded her pulse rate or respiratory levels on the medical records but he said both were within normal levels.

Dr Ahmed said: "I did not check her oxygen levels as she was not unduly short of breath. I thought that the infection was not so serious for her to be admitted to hospital. I thought that she could be treated as an outpatient with a strong antibiotic."

Mrs Purchase had gone out on the night of April 5 to celebrate her birthday in London but only after checking her eldest daughter was okay. Her ex-husband David had come to stay that night. But she arrived back home at around 4.50am on April 6 to find her daughter lying on the bed with the house phone in her hand.

Giving evidence at the inquest, Mrs Purchase said: "I'm not saying that she wasn't treated but she was not treated appropriately for her condition and, as a consequence, she died on my bed, in my bedroom, in unbelievably bad circumstances.

"If she had been placed into hospital she would have had the opportunity to fight for her life.

Cause of death was given as extensive bilateral pneumonia with pulmonary abscesses as a contributing factor.

Mr Balmain, concluding the inquest, said: "This is a tragedy.

"This is the death of a young girl at the start of her adult life.

"It seems to me that what went on during the course of that examination was probably incomplete."

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