Medical professionals suspended after clinical negligence caused boy's death
- Dec 16, 2015
- EmmaArnold
A doctor and a nurse have been suspended after they 'seriously neglected' a young boy who died in hospital.
Six-year-old Jack Adcock, who had Down's syndrome, died from a cardiac arrest after sepsis was triggered by a bacterial infection.
He was taken to Leicester Royal Infirmary with vomiting and diarrhoea but staff failed to note the seriousness of his illness and he died about 11 hours later.
The doctor, Hadiza Bawa-Garba, stopped performing CPR on Jack after wrongly assuming he was marked as 'do not resuscitate.'
Both she and the nurse involved, Isabel Amaro, were sentenced for his manslaughter this week.
Hannah Bottomley, solicitor in the clinical negligence department at PotterReesDolan, said:
It is extremely unusual for criminal proceedings to be brought in such circumstances and, whilst I cannot comment on the details of the case or why this particular matter resulted in criminal proceedings, I do know that there must have been very serious allegations involved.
Whenever someone who was not expected to die does so in a hospital setting, it is always a cause for concern but from the details we do know about Jack Adcock it would seem that there were multiple failures which, if corrected, could have prevented his death. My sincere sympathy and condolences go out to his parents and I hope that the ordeal of the criminal proceedings and ultimate outcome brings some closure.
During the Trial, the judge said how Jack's life was cut short prematurely and how no sentence would alter that.