‘Fit and healthy’ boy, 9, dies after being sent home from A&E with suspected flu
A nine-year-old boy died of sepsis just days after being discharged from an A&E in Wales with a suspected flu, an inquest heard.
Dylan Cope, from Newport, died on December 14, 2022, of septic shock from a ruptured appendix after being taken to hospital with abdominal pains.
Parents Laurence and Corrine said their ‘fit and healthy’ son had a vivid imagination, often found ‘building Lego’ and claiming ‘free hugs’.
He loved to bake by his mother’s side, solve Rubik’s cubes and tinker with bikes.
Above everything, the couple said, Dylan ‘loved his family’.
‘He saw the beauty of life and the injustices too, and was always keen to make his point known,’ Laurence told Gwent Coroner’s Court today.
‘On the day we were meant to be proudly watching Dylan in his school Christmas play dressed as a little reindeer, instead, we watched him dying.’
The inquest heard that while Dylan had been unwell on December 2 and vomited, his symptoms eased to a mild cough in only two days.
On December 6, Dylan was given some Calpol and had lunch as normal before complaining of ‘excruciating’ abdominal pain.
His GP, wary that he was suffering from an inflamed appendix, referred him to Grange Hospital’s emergency department.
Yet a practitioner said Dylan’s symptoms were a ‘mystery’ and was ‘unlikely’ Dylan had appendix issues as he had complained about the pain being worse on his left side, the opposite side to where the appendix is located.
Samantha Hayden, a paediatric nurse practitioner, told the inquest she assessed Dylan at around 10pm that day.
The ward was ‘extremely busy’ at the time and a computer room in which staff could have reviewed Dylan’s GP referral was packed with patients. She felt it was more important to have Dylan assessed.
Reading the boy’s GP note, she added, would unlikely have changed her mind about potential appendicitis.
Hayden said the schoolboy had swollen lymph nodes and congestion in his throat and that his symptoms were a ‘mixed bag’ which indicated some possible causes including flu, appendicitis and peritonitis. The practitioner had discussed with Dylan’s father the raft of reasons he was unwell.
A senior healthcare professional was set to review Dylan, though Hayden completed the discharge papers before this was done.
Asked by senior coroner Caroline Saunders why she did not include any mention of pain in Dylan’s lower right abdomen in her statement, she said: ‘I’m not sure.’
Hospital officials discharged Dylan just after 1am on December 7, advising his father that the youngster be given Calpol and handed him a cough and cold advice sheet.
Dylan’s abdominal pain continued, however, with the boy being unable to go to school or eat. Only three days later, Dylan’s parents were phoning the emergency number given to them when they left the hospital as their child’s condition hadn’t improved.
On the 19th attempt, they got through only to be told by the hospital to call 111. After two hours on hold, a 111 call handler told Laurence a doctor would be in touch.
With Dylan’s hands and feet going cold, Laurence and Corrine took Dylan to the emergency ward of Grange Hospital at 4.10pm.
There he was transferred to the University Hospital of Wales where he underwent an appendectomy. He died four days later.
The inquest continues.
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