A TWO-month-old baby girl died after hospital staff turned off four alarms on her monitor, an inquest heard.
Little Louella Sheridan passed away after “neglect” from medics responsible for her care at Royal Bolton Hospital in April last year.
JMW SolicitorsLouella Sheridan died at Royal Bolton Hospital in April 2022[/caption]
The tot with mum Casey QuigleyJMW Solicitors
The tot’s mum Casey Quigley said: “Louella deserved a chance to live but as a family we feel that the actions taken by the hospital’s staff took that chance away from her.
“Not a day has gone by, in the 20 months since her death, that we haven’t relived that night and wished our daughter was here with us.
“Louella was our precious baby girl and is missed very much by her brothers and sisters, who will also be affected by her loss for the rest of their lives.
“The only small comfort we have is that the inquest and our legal case might stop the same thing from happening to other vulnerable babies.
“That’s our only hope.”
Louella was born with a heart condition and underwent surgery at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool a short time later.
Despite her health problems, she was expected to live a “comparatively normal life”, the inquest was told.
She was discharged on March 15 and received at-home care until a visiting nurse found her struggling to breathe.
An ambulance was called and Louella was admitted to the high dependency unit (HDU) and diagnosed with bronchiolitis – a virus that can cause breathing difficulties in young children.
She was also treated for sepsis with antibiotics over the next two days.
In the early hours of April 24, Louella had a high temperature and a fast heart rate, but a consultant allegedly did not review her.
Just before 9am, Casey found her daughter “floppy and unresponsive”.
She ran into the hospital corridor to get help and a nurse pulled the emergency bell.
Doctors tried to resuscitate Louella, but it was too late.
Bolton Coroners’ Court heard how four alarms on a monitoring machine, alerting staff to concerning oxygen saturation, respiratory rates, heart rates and blood pressure levels, were muted and then switched off before her death.
A nurse reportedly told Casey that she must be “fed up hearing this bleeping” coming from the machine.
‘GROSS FAILURE’
Criticising Louella’s treatment, coroner John Pollard said: “It’s reasonable to conclude if the alarms had not been silenced on the monitor, they would have alerted staff to the collapse and they would have worked on her for some time and her life would have been extended albeit perhaps for a very short period.”
He described turning the alarms off as a “gross failure”, concluding that Louella died of natural causes, contributed to by “neglect”.
Her primary cause of death was given as Covid-19 infection.
Rachael Heyes, a solicitor specialising in medical negligence at JMW who is handling the family’s legal case, said: “The inquest process has been harrowing for Casey and [Louella’s dad] Granville and only made worse by the handling of it by the hospital, which caused the hearing to be delayed by more than a year.
“We welcome the coroner’s verdict and hope his comments serve as a warning to staff.
“No patient should have monitoring equipment turned off, particularly not a vulnerable baby.
“The conclusion of the inquest brings some closure for Casey and Granville and although they will never fully recover from this tragedy, is an important milestone for them.”
Tyrone Roberts, chief nurse at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust said: “I want to extend my sincere condolences to Casey, Granville and all of Louella’s family as they continue to come to terms with their tragic loss.
“We fully accept the outcome of the inquest and are incredibly sorry that on this occasion our systems and processes that should have cared for Louella, fell below our standards.
“We’ve made changes to improve this but acknowledge there is still work to do, based on the coroner’s recommendations.
“I know saying we are sorry will never be enough.
“We are committed to making sure we learn everything we can from what happened and will make any changes necessary to prevent such a tragedy from happening again.”