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Grieving Windsor family seeks answers after child's death

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  • Grieving Windsor family seeks answers after child's death

    Source: http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/...-child-s-death

    Grieving Windsor family seeks answers after child's death
    Published On Sat Mar 13 2010

    The grieving family of a Grade 3 student wants to know why their 8-year-old daughter died soon after arriving at a Windsor emergency room with flu-like symptoms.

    Destiny Sammut?s death is the latest in a series of medical tragedies to befall the city. Last month, the province launched an investigation after it was revealed two women suffered mistaken mastectomies at Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital. And 3,000 pathology tests are under review after a smaller review at the same hospital unearthed seven cases of concern.

    Sammut, a previously healthy, dark-eyed girl with long curly hair and a wide smile, was brought by ambulance to the Windsor Regional Hospital?s emergency room on Feb. 7. She had a high fever, was so weak she couldn?t walk and troubles breathing.

    Two hours later she was dead...

    ...Destiny had already been to Windsor Regional?s emergency room two days before her death suffering from a high fever of 104 C and dehydration. She was sent home after receiving fluids and medication for fever.

    But her mother Jennifer Sammut called for an ambulance on Feb. 7 because Destiny was weak and her breathing erratic. ?After a nurse saw her, they took blood, they started giving her antibiotics and they took an x-ray,? she recalled. ?I started to panic, really panic.?

    Doctors told Sammut they needed to put a tube down Destiny?s throat to help her breathe. ?There was a complication,? said Sammut, a single mother of three other young children. ?She aspirated. She stopped breathing and her heart stopped.?

    The medical team were able to revive Sammut?s heart but not for long. She died two hours after arriving at Windsor Regional.

    The Sammut family say doctors told them Destiny suffered from meningitis, a fast moving potentially fatal infection that causes inflammation of the lining around the brain and spinal cord. The child?s death prompted local media to report on the possibility of a potential meningitis outbreak ? one health officials denied as Destiny only remained in close contact with family members before she died.

    However, at the time of Destiny?s funeral, Sammut said health officials contacted them to say Destiny died of group A Streptococcus infection, a serious respiratory infection and pneumonia...
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