![\"Caroline](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/0_JS414147462.jpg\")
<\/p>\nCaroline Savage had been taking the weight-loss medication, but doctors treating her say it was not the only factor they considered when diagnosing her health problems<\/p>\n
Sam Russell and Adam Care Live News Reporter<\/p>\n
20:07, 24 Aug 2026<\/p>\n
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Caroline Savage, 73<\/p>\n
Doctors who treated a much-loved grandmother did not fixate on her use of Mounjaro weight loss medication before her death, an inquest has heard.<\/p>\n
The family of 73-year-old Caroline Savage, from Harleston, Norfolk, were concerned medics too readily attributed her symptoms to side effects of the drug before her death in 2024.<\/p>\n
But Norfolk area coroner Yvonne Blake said medics had considered other possibilities too.<\/p>\n
Jasmine Leng, who represented family members at Monday\u2019s hearing in Norwich, raised concerns about “diagnostic overshadowing and Mounjaro”.<\/p>\n
But the coroner said: “It\u2019s not clear to me from the evidence that the doctors were fixated with Mounjaro.”<\/p>\n
![\"Caroline](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/0_JS414147465.jpg\")
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Caroline Savage and her husband Jeremy Savage<\/p>\n
She noted mother-of-three Mrs Savage “had an increasing dose (of Mounjaro) but hadn\u2019t yet given herself the increasing dose”.<\/p>\n
“I don\u2019t think there was an overshadowing by doctors,” said Ms Blake.<\/p>\n
Mounjaro was not mentioned in the coroner\u2019s narrative conclusion, which found Mrs Savage died of faecal peritonitis due to perforated sigmoid diverticular disease.<\/p>\n
This is where faecal matter leaks into the abdominal cavity due to a perforation of the intestines.<\/p>\n
The issue of Mounjaro was raised later at the hearing by Ms Leng.<\/p>\n
One of Mrs Savage\u2019s daughters, Susannah Savage, told the hearing that Mounjaro “was mentioned on the discharge letter”.<\/p>\n
The coroner said clinicians “clearly thought about pancreatitis, they thought about other things like an aortic aneurysm”.<\/p>\n
“I don\u2019t think the doctors were only concentrating on Mounjaro,” Ms Blake said.<\/p>\n
In her narrative conclusion, she said Mrs Savage attended the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital by ambulance on October 18 2024 and “her main presenting complaint was severe pain”.<\/p>\n
“She remained in the ambulance for the entirety of her time at the hospital,” said Ms Blake.<\/p>\n
She said she was looked after by two paramedics, and two doctors and a nurse went out to see her while she was in the ambulance.<\/p>\n
She said the paramedics “examined her and wrote in their notes that she had peritonism”, but neither doctor found that she had peritonism.<\/p>\n
The coroner said Mrs Savage had an ultrasound and bloods were taken, with her blood tests coming back as “essentially normal”.<\/p>\n
She said she had three doses of morphine, and intravenous paracetamol was also given.<\/p>\n
She said “it was decided Mrs Savage could be discharged home”.<\/p>\n
“Roughly six hours later when she was at home, her husband had to help her get to bed,” said Ms Blake.<\/p>\n
“She then fell onto the floor at home and went into a cardiac arrest.”<\/p>\n
Mrs Savage died on October 19 2024.<\/p>\n
![\"Caroline](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/0_JS414147530.jpg\")
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Caroline Savage, 73<\/p>\n
Ms Blake said she would write to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and the East of England Ambulance Service with concerns about record keeping and communication between paramedics and staff.<\/p>\n
“The record keeping was sparse and neither of the doctors could recall or remember Mrs Savage at all so they were entirely reliant on their notes and their notes didn\u2019t contain very much detail,” she said.<\/p>\n
But she said she did not find “any evidence of a systemic defect operating in the emergency department”.<\/p>\n
“I find evidence of record keeping that could be better, in fact could be very much better,” she said.<\/p>\n
She said Mrs Savage had been “sent home undiagnosed” and added: “That\u2019s often the case in A&E.”<\/p>\n
An earlier statement released by the family\u2019s solicitor said the inquest “did not establish a link” between Mrs Savage\u2019s medical cause of death “and Mounjaro use”.<\/p>\n
Susannah Savage said after the hearing that Mounjaro use “was one of the first things the hospital recorded”.<\/p>\n
“It was on the discharge note as the only potential diagnosis that they came up with,” she said.<\/p>\n
She continued: “They also inquired into pancreatitis which is a known side effect of Mounjaro.<\/p>\n
“I should say they did an ultrasound regarding an abdominal aortic aneurysm, which is not linked to Mounjaro.<\/p>\n
“But I think there\u2019s a clear problem here that lots of people are on these weight loss drugs and it really needs to be avoided that that fact you\u2019re on a weight loss drug means you go to hospital and when doctors have failed to come up with a diagnosis that explains the cause of pain \u2013 which does often happen \u2013 that they can too readily grab at weight loss drugs as an explanation.”<\/p>\n
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