An inquest has heard how a 16-year-old swimmer was left to die at the side of a pool, after a lifeguard mistakenly thought she had been revived after CPR.

The Daily Mail reports that teenager Sophie Konderak from Braunstone in Leicestershire suffered a cardiac arrest just after beginning at training session with the Leicester Penguins Swimming Club at the Braunstone Leisure Centre, where she trained for two hours seven times a week

She was helped to the side of the pool, where lifeguard Katy Butler performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and chest compressions. Ms Butler believed that she had saved Ms Konderak after she began breathing again. However she failed to check for evidence of a pulse – a crucial part of resuscitation procedure, which determines whether the heart has been restarted and is circulating oxygenated blood.

Ms Konderak was unintentionally left to die by the side of the pool, the inquest heard. When paramedics arrived four minutes after Ms Butler had left her, they attempted to save her but were told by lifeguards that she was alive.

The ambulance crew tried to revive Ms Konderak using a defibrillator and she was taken to Leicester Infirmary, where she as pronounced dead.

Ms Konderak was found to be suffering from an undiagnosed heart condition called Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy – this resulted in fatty tissues collecting in the right ventricle of her heart, causing her heart to ‘short circuit’.

The inquest heard that the lifeguards at the leisure centre had not been adequately trained in performing CPR techniques. Ms Butler – who is employed as a lifeguard by Leicester City Council – told the inquest that she had not been instructed to check the pulse after CPR, but to stop the procedure once breathing had been restored and place the patient in the recovery position.

Dr Christopher Duke from the Glenfield Hospital in Leicester criticised the training procedures at the leisure centre – and added that Ms Konderak ‘would have survived’ had she received ‘continuous CPR’.

Dr Duke said:

‘You don't stop resuscitation just because a patient appears to be breathing – you only stop if there’s breathing and a pulse.

‘They got her out of the pool quickly, but there's a gap in how she was treated that's crucial – if she had correct CPR then she would have survived.’ 

Leicester and South Leicestershire Coroner Catherine Mason recorded a narrative verdict and called for ‘sweeping changes’ to resuscitation training in Britain. She is planning to write to the Resuscitation Council of the UK to ask it to amend its training guidelines to include checking for a pulse.

After the hearing, Ms Konderak’s parents – her father John, a roofer, and mother Lesley, who is an accounts clerk – issued a statement:

‘The inquest has found that Sophie's life could have been saved. The shortfall in the level of training and equipment contributed to this.

‘We hope the coroner's recommendations will lead to an improvement in lifesaving training and no further lives will be lost.’

After the verdict was read out, Mrs Konderak, 46, had reportedly broken down in tears and cried out:

‘It's my child's life – why didn't anybody do anything? How could you just leave her lying there?

‘She would have survived.’

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