AN INQUEST jury yesterday began hearing evidence into the case of a young diabetic woman who died after being misdiagnosed by three GPs.

Sarah Jane McNicholas, 20, died after falling into a diabetic coma in July, 1997.

The customer services clerk, from Widnes, Cheshire, had been diagnosed the previous year as suffering from diabetes.

But in July, 1997, when she complained to her local GP, Dr Neil Martin, that she felt unwell, he diagnosed her as having an underactive thyroid gland, Cheshire coroner Nicholas Rheinberg told a jury yesterday.

The following day, Miss McNicholas went on holiday to Prestatyn, North Wales, where she began vomiting. Local GP Dr Hugh Jones told her she had gastritis, Mr Rheinberg said.

She returned to Widnes a day later, where her sickness continued and a locum GP also diagnosed gastritis.

Dr Martin confirmed the opinion of the other two doctors when he saw Miss McNicholas on July 21, Mr Rheinberg said.

But, later that day, she was rushed to Halton General Hospital, where a specialist diagnosed her as suffering the dangerous condition of diabetic ketoaciditis.

She was placed under intensive care and fell into a coma and died on July 31, 1997.

Mr Rheinberg halted a previous inquest into the case because one of the jurors knew one of the doctors involved.

The new hearing at Warrington Town Hall, which began yesterday in front of a new jury, is expected to last for five days.

Mr Rheinberg also explained that Miss McNicholas had been diagnosed as suffering type two diabetes or maturity onset diabetes of the young (MODY).

It usually affects older people and sufferers do not usually need to inject themselves with insulin but can control the illness through diet and exercise.

Pathologist Dr Mohammad Al-Jafari, who carried out the post-mortem on Miss McNicholas, told the jury she died from a swelling of the brain caused by diabetic ketoaciditis.

The jury also heard evidence from the dead woman's brother, Michael McNicholas, who fought back tears as he described his sister's agony in her final waking hours.

He said: "The first time I had any real contact with Sarah Jane in hospital, she was in the intensive care unit. She looked to be in a terrible condition. To touch her she felt like ice and I mean like ice - you could have chilled a drink on her.

"She was clearly having difficulty breathing and she was clearly confused. She was talking but with difficulty. She looked vacant."

Mr McNicholas also told how a doctor spent 30 minutes trying to take a blood sample from his sister while she writhed in agony and begged for a drink.

He said: "She looked at me straight in the eye and said 'Michael, you don't know what they are doing to me.' And I didn't, but she allowed them to continue.

"At about quarter to eight in the evening, Sarah Jane was talking to my parents and to Terry, her fiance.

"I was there as well and all of a sudden she let out the most unmerciful scream I have ever heard in my life. She was twitching within the bed and kicking off the bed covers. There was no nurse there to see that, there was no doctor there."

Mr McNicholas told the jury that the family had been ushered out of the intensive care unit and told to return the following morning when they would find "a totally different girl".

But when they returned early the next morning, Miss McNicholas had lost consciousness.

Mr McNicholas recalled how Dr Ali Khaleeli, the diabetes specialist who initially diagnosed Miss McNicholas the previous year, insisted her losing consciousness had nothing to do with her diabetes.

Mr McNicholas said that several days later Dr Khaleeli suggested his sister was ill because her drink had been spiked with an illegal drug. Tests later proved she had not taken any illegal drugs.She died nine days later on July 31.

The hearing continues.