A vital hospital ventilation machine used on a student was not plugged in correctly and its safety alarm was broken, it has emerged.

As the parents of Michelle Sinclair are forced to face life without their 'beautiful' daughter, an inquest into the 20-year-old's death has uncovered failings in her hospital care. 

The Northumbria University student collapsed and died after a night out and coroner David Mitford concluded she died of natural causes.  It is believed Michelle may have had cardiac arrhythmia, an abnormality of the heart. 

At an inquest, the coroner found the ventilation machine at Newcastle General Hospital was not plugged in properly. 

In addition, the ventilator's safety alarm, which would have alerted staff to the problem, was broken, the logbook stating whether the machine had been checked was also not used. 

At the inquest, the assistant medical director of Newcastle Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Jonathan Fort, said the ventilator had been removed from service and the trust had taken steps to ensure all checks were made and recorded correctly. 

A spokeswoman for Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: "The trust extends its condolences to Michelle's family.  The coroner found that her tragic death resulted from an unforeseen heart problem.  Unfortunately a very long period of resuscitation was not successful. 

"It was acknowledged at the inquest that a problem concerning one of the ventilators did not contribute to the death.  The trust has already carried out a full investigation and taken steps to ensure that no such problem with equipment will occur in the future." 

Michelle, from Northern Ireland, died after suffering as many as 40 heart attacks.  Following her death, her relatives were screened for any heart abnormalities and her mum was found to have one.

Her parents Trevor, 47, and Kim, 45, are calling on the Government to screen all youngsters for heart problems as they say as many as eight people a week die from sudden adult death syndrome (SADS).  Mr Sinclair said: "We would like it to be enforced that all youngsters are screened for heart conditions from an early age as we don't believe enough is being done to detect cardiac risks in young people." 

Michelle's friends from Northumbria University are raising money for SADS charity CRY (www.c-r-y.org.uk)  You can donate at www.just-giving.com/michellesinclair