UK

Hospital staff ‘missed and made incomplete checks’ before boy died of sepsis after being told to take Calpol

Staff at a north London hospital missed and made incomplete medical checks on a four-year-old boy in the days before he died from sepsis, an inquest has heard.

Daniel Klosi died at the Royal Free Hospital in Camden on April 2 last year having been taken to the hospital four times in a week, including twice in one day, by his parents.

His parents said that on the second occasion they were discharged they were advised to give him Calpol and ibuprofen.

His family and several staff members who helped care for Daniel gave evidence at an inquest into his death at Poplar Coroner’s Court on Tuesday.

In a statement read out in court, Kastriot Klosi, Daniel’s father, described his son, who had autism, as a “lively boy” with no other health issues.

On March 26 he and Daniel’s mother, Lindita Alushi, noticed Daniel was “wheezing and had a barking cough” and took him to the Royal Free emergency department, where he was diagnosed with crepitation of the lungs.

They returned on March 30 when a doctor and nurse insisted Daniel had picked up a virus, and said he should “go home and rest”, the statement said.

The parents called 111 and were booked in for triage at the hospital on April 1 after Daniel “suddenly stopped eating and drinking”, and he was seen at around 1pm.

“I was told his chest was clear and he was suffering from a virus,” Mr Klosi said.

“I was really concerned and I felt as if the doctor was fixated on telling me Daniel had a virus rather than finding out what the real problem was.”

After Daniel was again discharged, the family, of Kentish Town, north London, went back at around 4.30pm and he started “deteriorating” in front of them, with his nose, hands and feet “turning purple” and his lips becoming cracked and blue.

Daniel died in the early hours of April 2.

Dr Shrabhi Agarwal, an emergency physician in the A&E department, first saw Daniel at around 3.30am on March 31.

She told the inquest Daniel looked “a bit unhappy” but not clinically unwell, and his chest “seemed clear”.

The doctor took a viral swab at around 3.30am and said his temperature was “normal again” around an hour later.

I thought he had been a child who had been worse the previous night and was starting to improve

Dr Kavita Sumaria

“Because all the swabs were negative and Daniel was feeling better, I decided to discharge them,” Dr Agarwal said.

She told the inquest she decided not to book a blood test because there were “no concerning signs”.

The court heard that the last set of medical observations of Daniel during the visit were at 4.30am, but he was not discharged until 8am.

Coroner Mary Hassell asked: “That really is too long a gap, isn’t it?”

In hindsight, maybe we could have started him on antibiotics earlier

Dr Shrabhi Agarwal

Xural.com

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