An NHS trust made a ‘number of failures’ before a six-year-old girl died from sepsis after being incorrectly discharged from hospital, an inquest has heard.
Maya Siek died at Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital in Margate, Kent, on December 21 2022, after being sent home with antibiotics for suspected tonsillitis two days earlier. However, an inquest concluding her death identified a series of issues that ‘could have been done differently’ by the trust.
This included the failure to keep Maya in hospital on the night of December 19 and to inform all members of the treating team about her diagnosis of sepsis the following day.
Ms. Wood told the inquest at Oakwood House in Maidstone:
“There were a number of failures at the trust in relation to Maya’s management.
“Generally, her condition didn’t appear to have been escalated as it should have been.”
Maya was a ‘well looked-after little girl who had a lust for life, loved drawing and was a happy child’, the inquest heard.
She was taken to the A&E department at Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital by her mother, Magda Wisniewska, on December 19 2022 after she collapsed.
Discharged from hospital
Doctors said she had possible tonsillitis and discharged her home with some antibiotics, but she collapsed again on her way out of the department.
Further ECG and blood tests were taken but she was again sent home with advice to come back if she deteriorated. Ms. Wood said she found the decision to discharge Maya that evening ‘inappropriate’.
Maya was brought back to hospital the following day after she had ‘gone downhill’ overnight. This is when she was diagnosed with sepsis and tests also showed influenza.
However, the inquest heard that nurses failed to document any real admission notes on December 20 about the diagnosis. According to reports, there was also a failure to discuss sepsis guidelines with Ms. Wisniewska and Maya’s father, Rajratan Bande at the time.
Maya had reportedly been suffering from a persistently high heart rate throughout her time in the hospital.
Doctors at Great Ormand Street also revealed she also had other ‘chronic conditions’, namely problems with a fatty liver related to obesity and a thickened heart wall, the inquest heard.
Ms. Wood identified the trust’s failure to adequately monitor Maya’s vital signs during her admission to the hospital’s Rainbow Ward, and a failure to contact South Thames Retrieval Service for support.
Maya was given a dose of high-strength sodium chloride at around 2 am on December 21, but plans made for blood scans later that morning were not carried out.
Maya died later that day after she went into cardiac arrest, despite resuscitation efforts.
The coroner accepted the cause of death as heart failure (acute myocardial necrosis), alongside the presence of Maya’s other chronic conditions and influenza.
In a statement given after the hearing, Ms. Wisniewska said she has been ‘completely let down’ by the hospital she had trusted to take care of Maya.
She said:
“The trust did not fully appreciate what was wrong with her and there were errors in treatment which meant it was incomplete.
“Our life has been ruined and our family will never be the same without her.”
Mr. Bande told reporters he felt ‘disappointed’ and urged medical professionals to ‘listen to the parents’, but added that the coroner had done ‘a great job’.
Medical negligence claims
Medical negligence is when a healthcare professional fails to provide a patient with adequate and appropriate care, leading to avoidable harm.
For a claimant to succeed in a negligence claim, three conditions must be met:
1. Claimant is owed a duty of care by the defendant
2. That defendant breached that duty by failing to exercise reasonable care
3. The breach of duty caused the claimant’s injuries, and those injuries are not too remote.
Medical negligence in hospitals
The hospital should be a place where harm is treated however unfortunately, the hospital is often the place where harm occurs.
Negligent treatment at a hospital can include but is not limited to an individual experiencing:
- A delay and/or failure in diagnosis and/or treatment
- A misdiagnosis
- Incorrect treatment
- Hospital-acquired infections including MRSA
- Pressure sores
- Mistakes during surgery
- Consent
- A delay and/or failure in receiving follow-up care.
We often see A&E departments acting negligently in hospitals by providing substandard care.
Who can make a medical negligence claim?
The victim of the negligence can bring about a claim in their own right. However, it is often sadly the case that the victim is either unable to bring about a claim or has sadly passed away.
In such circumstances, a claim can be brought about on their behalf either by an appropriate person or friend if the victim is still with us, or by the executor of the estate of a surviving dependent if the victim has passed.
Our specialist team will be able to discuss whether you have a right to bring about a claim – so if you or a loved one has been affected, do not hesitate to contact us.
How long do I have to make a medical negligence claim?
Claims of this nature are subject to a three-year limitation period. This means claims must be commenced within the Courts within three years of either the date the negligent act occurred or the date you became aware that negligence had occurred.
In cases involving deceased victims, this limitation period commences from the date of death and in cases involving minors, the limitation period starts when they reach their 18th birthday.
The law surrounding limitation periods is complex – our specialist team will be able to advise further.
How much compensation will I get?
It is often difficult to value Negligence claims at their outset, given the complexities involved however we will pursue two forms of compensation for you:
General damages – An award of money for the pain and suffering you have endured as a result of the negligence.
Special damages – An award for all of your out-of-pocket expenses such as travel expenses, medication costs, loss of earnings, and treatment costs both past and future.
This list is not exhaustive and is very case-specific. Our specialist team will be able to advise further.
Symptoms of sepsis
Sepsis is a life-threatening reaction to an infection, which occurs when your immune system overreacts to an infection and starts to cause damage to your own body’s organs and tissues. Some of the symptoms include:
- Generalised body swelling
- Faster heart rate
- Reduced urine output
- Fever and chills
- Decrease in platelet count
- Difficulty in breathing
- Mental confusion
- Hyperventilation
How to prevent infections
Although it is not always possible to prevent sepsis, there are things you can do to prevent infections which can lead to sepsis:
- Keep up to date with vaccines, particularly for babies, children, older people and pregnant women
- Clean and care for any wounds
- Take antibiotics correctly – follow the instructions and take all your prescribed antibiotics, even if you feel better
- Wash your hands regularly and teach children how to wash their hands well
Further reading
Hospital negligence claims – Oakwood Solicitors
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Jade Glover is a Solicitor in the Medical Negligence team. She has worked for the company for over 9 years and completed her training during that time. She has specialised in Personal Injury clai…
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