Family of woman who died after misdiagnosis by 'substitute doctor' criticise govt review

The parents of a woman who died after her blood clot was misdiagnosed by someone who she thought was a doctor have called a government-ordered review "a missed opportunity".

Marion and Brendan Chesterton have welcomed many of the recommendations in Professor Gillian Leng's review of the role that physician associates (PAs) perform in the NHS, but say "they don't go far enough".

Emily, 30, died in November 2022 after suffering a pulmonary embolism. She went to see her GP at a north London surgery twice in the weeks before her death - and on both occasions was seen by a physician associate who missed the blood clot and instead prescribed propranolol for anxiety.

The actress from Salford had told her worried parents that she had been seen by a doctor, but she had not.

Her father Brendan told Sky News: "If she come out and said I've seen someone called the physician's associate I'm sure we would have insisted that, you know, let's go back and insist that you see a doctor. She never knew."

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Source: Sky News, 14 July 2025