Mum tells inquest her 'kind' and well known Pompey supporting son, 39, was 'totally let down' before death

Helen McKnight is now turning her grief to helping others struggling with mental health and drug addiction after suffering the heartbreak of seeing her son Jay McKnight die before her eyes in Queen Alexandra Hospital on November 5 last year.

The 65-year-old Christian was present at Portsmouth Coroner’s Court with her husband Jim, 76, during an emotional inquest into the death of Jay, 39.

The Pompey fan’s struggles with his mental health had led him down a path of addiction with him feeling ‘inadequate’ and turning to crack cocaine and heroin to ‘self-soothe’, the court heard.

Despite his battles and brushes with the law and serving time in prison after stealing to feed his habit, the dad-of-one was a ‘very popular and well loved person around Portsmouth’, Helen told the hearing.

This was shown by over 150 people turning out for his funeral including Pompey legend Alan Knight and even police officers and solicitors who had represented Jay at court.

‘He was kind and caring and would always stop and help others if they were in trouble,’ Helen, who took a cushion with a picture of Jay and his son to the inquest, said.

‘He did not know how loved he was,’ she added.

But the Buckland mum revealed her son, who was living at the Society of St James hostel at the time of his death, lived a ‘chaotic life’ with her having ‘constant arguments over his addiction’.

Jay struggled with depression, anxiety and low self-esteem. He had belatedly been diagnosed with ADHD as an adult when he was also diagnosed as having bi-polar disorder.

‘He could not get any help and so tried to sort himself out through cannabis, crack and heroin. His addiction was horrific and he turned to petty crime to feed his habit,’ Helen said.

Speaking of the lack of help, she said: ‘He had no mental health support. He was totally let down and left untreated.’

She said the attitude from support services was: ‘If he's on drugs we won’t see him.’

One of the ways his addiction manifested was in the form of deep vein thrombosis (DVT). He was admitted to hospital on October 25 with a swollen leg and chest pains before ‘absconding’. But this was only because he was ‘clucking’ for a hit, Helen said. She said medication should be given to make addicts comfortable while they wait to stop them leaving.

Jay attended the emergency department with a swollen leg on October 30 and again on November 2 when he was discharged and told to take blood thinning medication to counter blood clots.

Dr Joe Schreiber, a consultant in the emergency department, said there were doubts Jay had taken his medication.

The mum, meanwhile, questioned why no chest X-ray was done on October 31 with Jay’s DVT rendering him a ‘ticking time bomb’.

Jay was admitted on November 5 just before 5am with pain and swelling in his right leg. With increasing concerns nurse Kelly-Jay Clabby, after seeking approval from senior medics, gave Jay what she ‘believed’ was an antibiotic drug.

The court heard the drug sheet, though, had since been misplaced so there was no categorical proof what Jay had been given.

Checks on a system had also shown that Jay had no allergies despite Helen revealing her son had a past penicillin allergy.

Within seconds of being given the drug, Helen recalled: ‘His eyes locked into me with absolute fear and he said: “What’s going on? I can’t breathe. Everything is burning.”’

Jay went into a seizure before subsequently going into cardiac arrest and dying.

Helen, who walked over and hugged the nurse as she broke down in tears during her evidence, asked: ‘Could he have been given the wrong medication?’

Dr Schreiber said Jay’s reaction was not consistent with an allergic reaction.

Pathologist Adnan Al-Badri added: ‘There was no evidence of any allergic reaction.’

Dr Al-Badri said the cause of death was a blood clot that had travelled to his lungs caused by the DVT which was a result of the drug use.

The post mortem found ‘hemorrhagic nodules’ in Jay’s lungs.

Coroner Christopher Wilkinson said Jay was a ‘kind hearted soul who gave a lot to others’ with drugs ‘taking their toll on his body’ and highlighted the admissions with DVT - with it ‘not clear’ if he was taking the medication for this.

Mr Wilkinson said there was ‘no evidence (Jay) suffered an allergic reaction’ and there was ‘no error’ with the medication.

But he said better record keeping was needed by the hospital when referring to the lost drug sheet that would have confirmed what Jay was given before his death.

Recording a narrative verdict, he said Jay died from a pulmonary thromboembolism embolism due to DVT which arose as a consequence of intravenous drug use.

Speaking outside the hearing Helen and Jim said: ‘We still need to work with the hospital on improving aspects of their protocols.

‘It’s bad they lost that drug chart so we don’t know for sure (what drug Jay was given). And we can’t tell from the autopsy because (the pathologist) didn’t take a blood test at the time they do a post mortem.

‘They’re relying on the blood test he had when he went into the hospital but that didn’t include what she had injected into him.

‘They don’t know which doctor prescribed it and don’t know which nurse checked the substance before the other nurse injected it.

‘Because of that we haven’t got any proof of what was injected into him. I find it weird. We just have to take their word. And although it might not have made any difference to the outcome it’s sloppy.

‘Because of these blunders we can’t rule out allergic reaction.’