Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/4...gitis_after_GP_fails_to_send_him_to_hospital/
SWANLEY: Baby dies of meningitis after GP fails to send him to hospital
9:40am Tuesday 20th October 2009
By Michael Purton ?
A BABY died of meningitis 14 days after being born because a GP failed to send him to hospital, his family say.
Harvey Davies? family took him to a GP on Friday because he was pale and having difficulty breathing, but the doctor prescribed medicine for colic and sent him home.
Less than 48 hours later he was dead, due to brain damage caused by meningitis.
Harvey lived with his parents and grandparents in Farm Avenue, Swanley, and they say he was ?let down? by the GP at The Oaks Surgery in Nightingale Way, Swanley.
Harvey Davies was just 14 days old when he died on Sunday
Grandmother Sharon Humm, 46, said: ?We took him to the GP on Friday afternoon and she said it was possibly colic, so she gave us a prescription for Infacol.
?It didn?t make any difference. He still had laboured breathing and was making moaning noises during the night.
?In the morning we checked on him and he was stiff and then started to have a seizure so we called an ambulance.
?They took him to Darent Valley Hospital, and when we got there and told them what the GP had said the doctors said ?Why on earth did the GP not send him here on Friday??
?It was awful waiting in casualty while they were working on him. There was nothing we could do.?
At around 1pm Harvey was put onto a breathing machine and scans showed he had brain damage.
He was transferred to St Thomas Hospital in Westminster at around 8.30pm, and staff worked frantically to save him.
However, by around 2am Harvey was totally brain dead and just the life support machine was keeping him alive.
Describing the moment he was told his son would die, Dan Davies, 22, said: ?My heart just shattered into pieces.?
Harvey with his parents Dan and Shelley
The family was allowed to say goodbye to Harvey before the machine was switched off.
Mrs Humm said: ?The doctor at St Thomas said if we had taken Harvey to hospital on Friday he would have had a chance of surviving.
?We feel the GP has took away his chance of survival by not diagnosing him properly.?
Doctors believe Harvey developed meningitis from an infection of his umbilical cord, which was still attached despite him being almost two weeks old.
Harvey, who was born five weeks premature at Darent Valley Hospital, got the infection from his mother, Shelley, 21, during labour.
Grandmother Mrs Humm says staff at the birthing unit should have checked whether the infection had passed to Harvey after he was born.
She plans to complain to the primary care trust for the area, NHS West Kent, about the GP at The Oaks and the birthing unit at Darent Valley.
She said: ?We cannot bring Harvey back but if we can save one family from this devastation we will feel better.?
NHS West Kent medical director Dr James Thallon said: ?We are extremely saddened to hear of the loss of a young child.
?There are a number of ways the PCT can assist in developing an understanding of why such tragic events take place, but it would not be appropriate to offer a more detailed opinion at this early stage.?
SWANLEY: Baby dies of meningitis after GP fails to send him to hospital
9:40am Tuesday 20th October 2009
By Michael Purton ?
A BABY died of meningitis 14 days after being born because a GP failed to send him to hospital, his family say.
Harvey Davies? family took him to a GP on Friday because he was pale and having difficulty breathing, but the doctor prescribed medicine for colic and sent him home.
Less than 48 hours later he was dead, due to brain damage caused by meningitis.
Harvey lived with his parents and grandparents in Farm Avenue, Swanley, and they say he was ?let down? by the GP at The Oaks Surgery in Nightingale Way, Swanley.
Harvey Davies was just 14 days old when he died on Sunday
Grandmother Sharon Humm, 46, said: ?We took him to the GP on Friday afternoon and she said it was possibly colic, so she gave us a prescription for Infacol.
?It didn?t make any difference. He still had laboured breathing and was making moaning noises during the night.
?In the morning we checked on him and he was stiff and then started to have a seizure so we called an ambulance.
?They took him to Darent Valley Hospital, and when we got there and told them what the GP had said the doctors said ?Why on earth did the GP not send him here on Friday??
?It was awful waiting in casualty while they were working on him. There was nothing we could do.?
At around 1pm Harvey was put onto a breathing machine and scans showed he had brain damage.
He was transferred to St Thomas Hospital in Westminster at around 8.30pm, and staff worked frantically to save him.
However, by around 2am Harvey was totally brain dead and just the life support machine was keeping him alive.
Describing the moment he was told his son would die, Dan Davies, 22, said: ?My heart just shattered into pieces.?
Harvey with his parents Dan and Shelley
The family was allowed to say goodbye to Harvey before the machine was switched off.
Mrs Humm said: ?The doctor at St Thomas said if we had taken Harvey to hospital on Friday he would have had a chance of surviving.
?We feel the GP has took away his chance of survival by not diagnosing him properly.?
Doctors believe Harvey developed meningitis from an infection of his umbilical cord, which was still attached despite him being almost two weeks old.
Harvey, who was born five weeks premature at Darent Valley Hospital, got the infection from his mother, Shelley, 21, during labour.
Grandmother Mrs Humm says staff at the birthing unit should have checked whether the infection had passed to Harvey after he was born.
She plans to complain to the primary care trust for the area, NHS West Kent, about the GP at The Oaks and the birthing unit at Darent Valley.
She said: ?We cannot bring Harvey back but if we can save one family from this devastation we will feel better.?
NHS West Kent medical director Dr James Thallon said: ?We are extremely saddened to hear of the loss of a young child.
?There are a number of ways the PCT can assist in developing an understanding of why such tragic events take place, but it would not be appropriate to offer a more detailed opinion at this early stage.?