The Health Service Ombudsman says the death of a nine year old boy in December 2013 could have been avoided.
Thomas Hull, who suffered from cerebral palsy, was taken to Whiston Hospital by his mother when he developed a chest infection.
At 8pm he was attended by a consultant who suspected sepsis, but this information was not relayed to other medical practitioners or Thomas’s family.
“He would have survived”
He was seen by another registrar at midnight. After what Thomas’s mother describes as a “two-minute consultation” he was diagnosed with a ‘mild chest infection’ and discharged from hospital. He died six hours later on 5 December 2013.
Dame Julie Mellor, the Health Service Ombudsman, has now released an official report into his death. She concludes that Thomas’s death “could have been avoided.”
“It was not reasonable to discharge [Thomas] so soon, given that there was no evidence of significant improvement, and that had he stayed in hospital it was more likely that he would have survived”, she said.
“So much deceit”
It is also alleged that the doctor who discharged Thomas falsified his account of events. Dame Mellor confirmed there were “different accounts of what happened”, saying:
“Medical records made at the time were not consistent with the second registrar’s explanation for the decision to discharge”.
“The Trust’s initial treatment was appropriate but there was insufficient evidence to support the second registrar’s account of the time of, and the reasons for discharge.”
“The second registrar did not comply with the professional standard that entries in medical records should be made as soon as possible after the event, and if there is a delay, the time of the event and the delay should be recorded.”
Thomas’s mother, Donna Hull, said she “never thought there would be so much deceit over a child’s death.”
Sepsis case
If you or your loved one has been harmed by substandard medical care, please get in touch with us today at Glynns Solicitors.
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