A doctor who wrote a fatal prescription for penicillin to a mum with a severe allergy had not checked her notes first, an inquest heard.

Dr James Storey had only been out of medical school for about two months when he prescribed the penicillin-based drug magnapen to Teresa Innes, right, who had already told a number of staff of her severe allergy.

Bradford Coroner's Court was told by consultant physician Dr Robin Ferner that Mrs Innes should have been asked about her allergies by doctors at Bradford Royal Infirmary before anything was given to her.

Giving expert evidence he told Coroner Roger Whittaker: "If I had understood that I was prescribing penicillin I would have asked her 'Are you allergic to any drugs? Are you allergic to penicillin?'"

Dr Ferner added: "He (Dr Storey) had a responsibility to ensure they were suitable for the patient. Dr Storey failed to establish whether they were suitable for Teresa Innes and failed to examine the notes and the drugs chart.

"However, he did not know the patient and may not have had the notes available to him."

Dr Ferner described to the coroner a catalogue of errors which led to Miss Innes, a mother of one child, being injected with penicillin which caused her to have an anaphylactic reaction in September 2001.

Almost immediately, she became distressed and stopped breathing. A cardiac arrest team were called but it was 30 minutes before a sustainable pulse returned and Miss Innes was left in a coma.

Two years later, the High Court ruled that life-sustaining treatment could be withdrawn with the consent of her family and Miss Innes, who had lived at Ternhill Grove, Bradford, died in August 2003.

The court was told that Miss Innes had been bitten by an insect while on holiday in Corfu and had gone to see her doctor.

The inquest was told that a referral letter to the hospital from Miss Innes's GP said that she was allergic to penicillin.

When she arrived at the hospital, staff in the accident and emergency department marked her allergy down in capital letters and it was also written on her drugs chart in red ink.

Miss Innes was moved on to ward 20 where it was again marked that she was allergic to penicillin but when she was moved to ward 14 her notes got separated.

The inquest was told the senior surgeon on the ward, Mr John Griffith, had also failed to check with Miss Innes if she was allergic to anything.

Dr Ferner said: "He (Mr Griffith) did not ask himself whether she was allergic to either product. In the context of a busy ward round there are others who could have corrected him. A simple enquiry by Mr Griffith would have elicited the information."

Mr Whittaker was told the nurse who made up the fatal prescription, Belinda Clark, was aware of Miss Innes's allergy but did not know penicillin was found in magnapen.

The hearing continues.