Dad, 27, dies after leaving A&E over fear of catching COVID and passing it to baby daughter

A father died looking after his baby daughter just days after he discharged himself from A&E over fears he would catch COVID and pass it on to her.

David Warner, from Guildford, Surrey, visited hospital earlier this month after complaining of chest pains but was worried about catching the disease while waiting for his test result on a COVID ward.

Concerned that he would then spread the disease to the rest of his family – including his six-month-old daughter Evie – he decided to leave the hospital and come home, according to partner Vicky Jones.

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Ms Jones said that a few days after discharging himself, Mr Warner, 27, was woken by Evie’s cries and went to another room to look after her.

However, Ms Jones said she later found her partner dead in the living room.

The 21-year-old told The Sun that the last thing Mr Warner had told her was that he loved her, and that he was “already dead when I went into the living room”.

She added: "He had already fed her [Evie], changed her nappy, and put her in her bouncy chair by the time I got there.

"He spent his last few moments taking care of Evie and making sure she was looked after – the last thing he would have seen was her laughing and smiling.”

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Ms Jones explained that Mr Warner, who had been given a COVID test at the hospital, told medics he would “rather take his chances with whatever was giving him chest pains” than risk infecting his daughter.

She revealed that the coronavirus test later came back negative.

A GoFundMe page set up by Ms Jones to raise money for a funeral and memorial for her partner has so far raised nearly £3,000.

Watch: A&E ‘safe’, says PM, after fears led to non-COVID deaths