Family questions over death of woman, 24, with ectopic pregnancy

The family of a woman who died following complications of an undiagnosed ruptured ectopic pregnancy hope an inquiry can help them understand what happened.

Hannah McInally, 24, died in Aberdeen Royal Infirmary on 23 November 2021. She lived in Aberdeen and was originally from Dundee.

The fatal accident inquiry (FAI) process got under way on Thursday with a preliminary hearing, and the case was continued until later in the year.

Afterwards, relatives said they hope the FAI will help them "understand, grieve and move forwards".

"Hannah was a kind, clever, beautiful and contagiously happy young woman and her untimely loss continues to be felt by everyone who knew her," they said in a statement issued after the hearing.

"We have always believed there were failings at NHS Grampian that directly contributed to her death," they added.

"It is therefore with much anticipation we now await the health board's evidence because, to date, we feel like it has failed to fully answer all our questions we believe would help us understand, grieve and move forwards."

They family, who released the statement through legal firm Digby Brown, continued: "Our thanks go to those who have supported us since Hannah's passing but for the duration of the FAI we request our privacy is respected so we can give it our full attention and process things in our own time."

Fiscal depute Alan Morrison, for the Crown, told the hearing that his view was that the issues to be explored by the inquiry required to be refined.

He proposed three issues to be examined:

• The quality of NHS24's performance in relation to Hannah's condition on 19 November 2021
• The assessment of two Grampian health board out-of-hours doctors
• Measures taken by the health board and NHS24 after her death.

He said it was very hard to tell how long the FAI would take, but suggested at least four days.

Yvonne Waugh KC, for the family, said Hannah's death was a "deeply distressing" matter.

Scott Clair, counsel for NHS24, described it as a "truly tragic" case and passed on sympathies to relatives, which was echoed by Sheriff Ian Wallace, who is presiding over the inquiry.

The case was continued for three months to a further preliminary hearing, the date of which has still to be identified.

Unlike criminal proceedings, FAIs are used to establish facts rather than to apportion blame.

Andy Shanks, of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, previously said: "The Lord Advocate considers that the death of Hannah McInally occurred in circumstances giving rise to serious public concern and as such a discretionary fatal accident inquiry should be held."

NHS Grampian said it could not comment at this time.