Grieving parents Tony and Jackie Burchell have vowed to fight for a full disclosure of the fact surrounding the death of their 26-year-old daughter who suffered a fatal fit - which they believe was brought on by meningitis - just ten minutes after an agency doctor sent her home with a box of paracetamol.

The couple from Carnkie, Wendron, are insisting that their questions are now answered and they told the Packet they were prepared to take legal action if necessary over their belief that the doctor did not take their daughter Rebecca's symptoms seriously enough.

Rebecca, who had suffered from autism since the age of one, had been taken by her mother to Helston Community Hospital when she began shivering, had a high temperature, started severely vomiting and developing a rash. Mrs Burchell feared that her daughter showed all the signs of meningitis, so booked an emergency appointment.

Because it was a Sunday, the doctor on duty was an agency GP provided by the company Serco, which took over the running of out-of-hours emergency appointments in Cornwall in April 2006.

Mrs Burchell claimed that the doctor did not carry out the basic checks for temperature and blood pressure and that when she expressed her fears that it might be meningitis, these were dismissed by the GP, despite him not asking for a list of the symptoms.

She said that the doctor sent Rebecca home with a box of paracetamol and told her to drink plenty of fluids. Ten minutes later she suffered a severe fit at home and never regained consciousness, dying in intensive care at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro two days later, on April 3.

Her parents are now determined to arrange a face-to-face meeting with the agency doctor and discover why he did not, in their opinion, take Mrs Burchell's concerns more seriously.

Mr Burchell said: "I don't like to point any fingers at the moment. I would like to think he's a well qualified doctor. But I just want to understand why, when my wife mentioned meningitis, he didn't take more action. I've read now those few hours are critical."

Mrs Burchell added: "I'm just angry with everything. I don't know if she could have been saved if he had picked up on the things. But he should never have let me take her home."

Mr Burchell claimed that the agency doctor had been brought in for the weekend from west Sussex. "Is he absolutely knackered, having driven here?" he asked.

He also feared that, as he was not local, the doctor would not have known about the medical history of the area, with a two-year-old boy who attended a pre-school in nearby Trannack having died just a few weeks before of meningitis.

"It makes me feel that the government has got it wrong. Medical care is something you can't let out on a profit-making basis. It's all about profit.

"They will go to the agency to get the cheapest doctors. They're there to make a profit - they're not there for the people," he explained.

Although Rebecca had a history of suffering epileptic fits, her parents said that these had dramatically subsided in recent years and were only brought on by her suffering high temperatures - such as the kind associated with meningitis.

Mr Burchell added that staff at the Royal Cornwall Hospital had told the couple they were "90 per cent certain" that Rebecca had been suffering bacterial meningitis and the whole family were on a preventative course of antibiotics.

While the official cause of death has yet to be determined at an inquest, Mr Burchell said that, following an autopsy, it had been noted that she died from epilepsy.

Of some comfort to the family is the fact that Mr Burchell was able to see his daughter just hours before she died. Normally this would not have been possible, due to the fact that he is currently working in Dubai, building a metro system. However, because it had been the Prophet Mohammed's birthday, he had take advantage of the national holiday in the Muslim country by travelling home to see his family briefly.

"I saw her Sunday morning. I gave her a cuddle and she was fine. I flew back and I'd only been there for ten hours when my wife called me to say this was happening, please come back. My company got me on a plane within 90 minutes and I saw her for a few hours before she died," he explained. He added that he had received "tremendous support" from everyone in Dubai, with his company even offering to send representatives to the funeral.

The family are hoping to hold a funeral and celebration of Rebecca's life tomorrow (April 12) at St Stythians Church, Stithians.

They are requesting that, instead of flowers, money could be donated to the Truro-based Gateway Club, which organises discos for people with disabilities and which Rebecca enjoyed attending.

They also plan to focus on the positive side of Rebecca's life - such as her sense of humour. This was demonstrated just a few days before her death, when Rebecca playfully collected up a handful of worms and then showed them to her mother - who hates the creatures.

Mrs Burchell said: "She was always happy and always well loved. She never had a bad word to say about anyone."

The couple are full of praise for the staff at the Royal Cornwall Hospital, Treliske. "I'd like to thank the staff in intensive care and at the hospital, who did everything they could possibly do to save her," added Mrs Burchell.

A Serco spokesperson said: "Our sympathies are with the family at what is a distressing time. We are not prepared to discuss the details of the condition or treatment as this is subject to patient confidentiality and is currently being reviewed.

"We did contact Rebecca's parents as soon as we were aware they were concerned about the treatment given to her. We have assured them we will do all we can to review the care provided and discuss this with them as soon as possible. Our priority is to respond to the family and provide them with the details of our findings."