Baby died after being sent home from hospital with paracetamol when he had meningitis
His mum is sharing her heartbreaking story so the NHS will learn from the tragedy
A DEVASTATED mum has told how her baby died after doctors sent him home with paracetamol when he had meningitis.
Abigail Hull has shared her heartbreaking story in the hope the NHS will learn from the tragedy.
The NHS manager had taken seven-month-old Oliver to Epsom General Hospital but medics wrongly diagnosed him with a sinus infection.
The tot was sent home with paracetamol and died two days later suffering from pneumococcal meningitis.
Abigail, 38, and husband Tom, also 38, have received an undisclosed settlement from the hospital after an inquest at Woking coroner’s court last year concluded Oliver had received “wholly inadequate” care.
She said: "To lose your child to an illness that is both preventable and treatable is a tragedy.
"By sharing our story we hope to save lives in the future as people become more aware of the symptoms and of the impact this horrible disease can have.
"We have always wanted something positive to come from Oli’s death."
The baby was admitted on May 23, 2014, but sent home after four hours. It was only when his grandfather, a retired GP, spotted that his fontanelle — the soft gap in his skull — was bulging that Oliver was rushed to Evelina London Children’s Hospital.
He could not be saved and died the next day.
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Coroner Karen Henderson found that Oliver died of natural causes but there was a “missed opportunity” to discover he was suffering from pneumococcal meningitis.
Abigail, from Banstead, Surrey, told the : "We were obviously left devastated by Oli’s death. He was usually such a happy and healthy baby and I took him to [Epsom] hospital late at night because of how serious I thought his condition was.
"We didn’t want to take any chances and we thought we were in the best possible place but on this occasion we feel we were badly let down.
“We have since found out through the legal process that the doctors should have considered more serious conditions bearing in mind Oli’s symptoms, that he should not have been discharged from hospital, and that he should have received antibiotics.
“We only hope that the [hospital] trust has learned lessons, as it now suggests, and that Oli’s death has not been in vain.”
Ania Bean, a lawyer at Irwin Mitchell who represented the family, said: “Nothing can turn back the clock for them, but it is some comfort that through the inquest and the medical negligence legal process issues have been identified that the NHS can now learn from to reduce the risk of similar incidents in the future.”
A spokeswoman for Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS trust said: “Our thoughts and sympathies are with Oliver’s parents. Whilst money can never compensate in these circumstances we hope the finalisation of the compensation process can give them some form of closure.
“As a result of the learning from our investigation into this sad event, we have significantly strengthened our paediatric services, including appointing eight specialist paediatric consultants in A&E.”
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