A Pembrokeshire mother died in a Danish spa after her blood sugar declined rapidly, an inquest has heard.
Margaret Pauline Barnaby, from Moylegrove, known as Mags, had taken a short break to the Danish city of Copenhagen with her son and his fiancée.
The three of them had visited the Aire Ancient Baths May 29 last year. The baths offer spa treatments as well as access to a series of ancient saltwater baths.
The inquest heard that Mrs Barnaby, 50, suffered from diabetes and had a CGM (continuous glucose monitoring) device on her upper arm that was linked to an app on her smart phone.
When she visited the baths she had left her phone in the changing room so did not have access to it.
Mrs Barnaby spent some time with her son and his fiancée before they went their seperate ways. She was later found in a pool in the spa area with her face submerged.
CPR was performed for 45 minutes, but unfortunately she could not be saved.
Investigations in Denmark showed that, according to the CGM app on phone, Mrs Barnaby’s blood sugar had declined rapidly and had reached very low levels when she reached the spa.
As the device had been submerged, it was not possible to have an accurate reading at the time of her death. However, the findings suggested that she had suffered a hypo glycaemic episode and lost consciousness.
A Danish pathologist gave the cause of death as drowning. Pembrokeshire Coroner Paul Bennet added diabetes as a secondary cause to this.
He recorded a consequence of accidental death, extending his sincere condolences to Mrs Barnaby’s family and thanking them for attending the inquest.
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