Killer virus was not diagnosed

Feb 6 2009 by Neil Mckay, The Journal

A DOCTOR yesterday battled her former colleagues to get justice for her four-month-old nephew.

Aleksandr Veide of Front Street, Witton Gilbert, near Durham, died in the city’s flagship University Hospital four years ago after doctors there failed to diagnose the killer virus meningococcal sepsis in time.

His parents Michael and Andrea called an ambulance and he was rushed the four miles to the hospital’s Accident and Emergency Unit.

But despite the duty doctor there realising he was seriously ill, doctors in the hospital’s paediatric department failed to grasp the urgency of the situation.

Aleksandr died just nine hours after being taken to the hospital, on January 18, 2005.

Yesterday his aunt, Dr Nichola Schaible quizzed her former colleagues at an inquest into Aleksandr’s death.

Mother-of-five Dr Schaible used to work in the same hospital’s accident and emergency unit before joining Cleveland Police as a medic.

The hearing was told how doctors Shamilla Jandial and Claire Gowdy examined Aleksandr in the children’s Treetops unit of the hospital, but failed to give him antibiotics or fluid resuscitation.

Michael Veide, a salesman, told the hearing at Bishop Auckland how he telephoned NHS Direct for advice when he noticed his son had a temperature and was in obvious discomfort. When the operator heard the baby scream over the telephone she advised him to call an ambulance immediately.

But at the Treetops ward Mr Veide said he was advised by staff “to sit and chill” when he pointed out that his son was shaking and shivering. “I was told the ward was full of hot babies, and that Alex had a viral infection,” said Mr Veide.

But Prof Simon Kroll, professor of paediatrics and molecular diseases at Imperial College and St Mary’s Hospital, London, who was called as an expert witness by Aleksandr’s family, accused the doctors in the Treetops ward of adopting a “straitjacket approach” and of a lack of experience.

He told the inquest: “I would expect a reasonably experienced junior paediatrician to recognise the symptoms.

“I only have hindsight, but the symptoms should have triggered action sooner. An earlier package of antibiotics and fluid resuscitation would have made a difference.”

Recording a narrative verdict, deputy Durham coroner Graham Hunsley said the course of events made “harrowing reading”. He added: “My job is to distinguish between incorrect medical judgement and neglect.

While he said staff had not been guilty of neglect, evidence had shown faults in the hospital system of information sharing and record keeping. “If there is one crumb of comfort it seems that advice has been taken and that lessons have been learnt.”