Yvonne Ford contracted rabies on a holiday to Morocco and unexpectedly died on June 11
11:28, 05 Dec 2025Updated 11:41, 05 Dec 2025
Yvonne tragically contracted rabies abroad after a tiny scratch from a dog (Image: Robyn Thomson )
The family of a woman who died after contracting rabies from a dog scratch have questioned the NHS “being ready” to deal with her ailment, a pre-inquest hearing has heard.
Yvonne Ford, 59, had died weeks after being scratched by a puppy while on holiday in Morocco this year. She had contracted rabies from the scratch and died in hospital on June 11. Attended by family, including daughter Robyn Thomson and husband Ron Ford, the pre-inquest hearing was held at Sheffield’s Medico Legal Centre today (December 5), in preparation for the full inquest next year.
The inquest comes as the family prepare for their first Christmas without their “beautiful mum” – as well as what would have been her 60th birthday. Yvonne fell ill at the end of May and, despite treatment at Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield, tragically and unexpectedly died.
Attending the court today, the family questioned whether the NHS were “ready” to deal with a diagnosis as severe as Yvonne’s. During the pre-inquest hearing, the family also discussed their concerns about details that were passed to them during Yvonne’s treatment, including a phone call where they claimed that they were assured Yvonne “did not have rabies”. Speaking to the court, Ron said: “I want to ask the doctors themselves why certain things were missed.”
Explaining to the family, Assistant Coroner Ms Whittle said that in spite of the family’s “burning desires to ask [doctors involved in Yvonne’s case] certain questions,” the role of the coroner was to answer the “who, what, when, where and how” of the case. As a result, six witnesses were agreed to attend in front of a jury – due to the nature of the disease being classed as “notifiable”.
In a tribute earlier this year, Yvonne’s daughter, Robyn posted a tribute to her mum on Facebook. The tribute read: “Our family is still processing this unimaginable loss, but we are choosing to speak up in the hope of preventing this from happening to others.
“Yvonne Ford, Ron Ford’s wife and our Mum, died of rabies. She was scratched very slightly by a puppy in Morocco in February. At the time, she did not think any harm would come of it and didn’t think much of it. Two weeks ago she became ill, starting with a headache and resulted in her losing her ability to walk, talk, sleep, swallow. Resulting in her passing.”
A full four-day inquest into Yvonne’s death is set to take place next year from March 2.
Daughter Robyn Thomson is bravely raising money to prevent her mothers fate from ‘happening to others'(Image: Robyn Thomson)
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