AN ASPIRING young actress died because the treatment she received following a routine operation went wrong, an inquest heard this week.

Alexandra Mills - known to her friends and family as Alix - of Cranhams Lane, Chesterton, died on February 13 last year just days after she underwent an operation to realign her jaw, she was 20-years-old.

But Gloucestershire coroner Alan Crickmore ruled the doctors and surgeons who treated Alix were not to blame and her death was the result of a tragic accident.

Although the operation itself was a success the treatment Alix received caused a heart attack which led to her death.

Her parents John and Jane explained how their daughter had been diagnosed with a misalinged jaw at the age of 10 but had been advised to wait until she turned 18 before teating it.

Mrs Mills said: "When Alix was 18 the work started with the removal of eight teeth and the fitting of a brace to move the remaining teeth to their new position. This was a painful and embarrassing situation, but throughout Alix remained optimistic.

"The operation, that was not cosmetic as has been implied by some reports, apparently went well.

"The following morning, just as Alix was waking up and looking forward to being able to bite properly for the first time, her heart was tragically stopped by a doctor who was attempting to correct a low potassium count.

"The coroner considered this to be an accident.

"We miss Alix dreadfully. We still cry for the loss of a beautiful girl with so much to offer."

Mr Crickmore heard how Alix was admitted to Cheltenham General Hospital on February 8 for the operation to correct the position of her jaw.

The operation lasted eight hours and after just one night in intensive care her surgeon, John Harrison, said she would soon be moved back to a ward.

However, a tube being used to monitor Alix's blood pressure had moved, causing the tip to pierce the pericardial sac encasing the heart.

Alix was seen later by Dr Robert Orme on his rounds. He noticed her potassium levels were low and administered an infusion but because the tube was now in Alix's heart the solution did not make it into her blood stream.

Soon after the injection was given Alix's heartbeat became irregular and she suffered a heart attack.

Investigations showed a large amount of fluid - the potassium rich injection - had entered the area surrounding the heart, squeezing it and preventing it from beating correctly.

Following Alix's heart attack her parents and her older brother, Tim, were informed that she had suffered severe and irreversible brain damage following the heart attack. She died on February 13.

Expert witness Dr Jean-Paul Favier said it was rare for both the line to move and the infusion to end up in the wrong place.

He said: "It is quite an amazing coincidence to have a hole made in the heart - which is quite rare. But if you have infused using a line with a high concentration of potassium it made the condition a lot more dangerous."

Delivering a verdict of accidental death, the coroner said although no proof was found in the post-mortem to show the tip of the central line had entered Alix's heart it was likely this, combined with the potassium rich injection, would have caused the heart attack.

The result of the heart attack was Alix's heart being starved of oxygen leading to the brain damage that ultimately killed her.