Parents of healthy girl, 2, who died 24 hours after ‘recovering from viral bug’ say her death was ‘totally avoidable’
THE DEVASTATED parents of a little girl who passed away after doctors deemed her to be recovering from a viral illness say her death was ‘totally avoidable’.
Doctors initially believed that Pippa Mae White, 2, had a bug when she was brought to the emergency department with a fever, diarrhoea and vomiting on June 12, 2022.
In fact, the tot had pneumonia and developed sepsis, which proved fatal.
An inquest into Pippa’s death held in Sydney last week heard that the septic infection wasn’t detected by doctors until it was too late.
The inquest assessed the care Pippa received between arriving at the Cowra hospital emergency department and her death at Orange hospital the following day, and will determine whether her death was preventable.
Her parents Brock and Annah claimed their little girl’s death was “totally avoidable”, vowing to fight for changes to the health system so no more families would experience the same pain.
“We as your parents promise to spend the rest of our lives advocating to stop this from ever happening again,” Annah said in court, per The Guardian‘s reporting.
“Your death will not be for nothing.”
She remembered two-year-old Pippa as “the most perfect angel in the whole world” who was “different to other little girls her age”.
Annah and Brock said their family of six would never be whole again without Pippa.
Pippa was first brought to the Cowra emergency department in New South Wales at 2pm on June 12, several days after the generally healthy youngster began showing symptoms such as a high temperature, vomiting and diarrhoea.
Despite her high heart rate of 171 beats a minute – which the inquest heard was in the “red zone” for sepsis risk – a nurse told Annah to take Pippa home unless she was severely unwell, as the hospital was so busy.
When Annah brought Pippa back to the hospital about five hours later, the hospital’s only doctor – Dr Suheil Mir – said her heart rate had slowed to 90 beats a minute.
But the inquest was shown a video of of the little girl making a “grunting” sound while breathing, which her mum said she took just after 5:14pm.
At times, doctors’ evidence was different to the testimony given by Annah.
The mum recalled telling Dr Mir that she was worried about her tot’s breathing, while he claimed not to remember that.
Though he believed Pippa didn’t meet the criteria for sepsis, he was still concerned about her condition and the tot was transferred to Orange Base Hospital, a larger hospital.
RAPID DECLINE
The on-call paediatrician at Orange, Dr Adam Buckmaster said the decision to transfer Pippa was made out of caution, due to the length of time she had been unwell, MailOnline reported.
But after speaking to Dr Mir, he claimed to have been given the impression that Pippa “appeared to be getting better from whatever illness she had”.
“My overall vision … was of somebody who has been unwell for a few days but appears to be on the road to recovery,” Dr Buckmaster told the inquest.
Meanwhile, Annah claimed that at the time her daughter was “lethargic” and throwing up any fluids given to her.
Pippa was assessed at around 9pm after arriving at Orange, with medics concluding that she was dehydrated from a viral illness.
Another video taken at 2:40am on 13 June showed the tot making grunting noises while breathing.
But it wasn’t until 4am that Pippa was given a blood test, the inquest heard – it revealed that she had a serious infection.
When to take your child to A&E
WHEN your child becomes unwell, it can be scary, especially when they are very young and cannot tell you what they are feeling.
Here are red flag signs to watch out for which mean you should call 999 or go to A&E:
- Seizure (fit): shaking or jerking because of a fit, or unconscious (cannot be woken up)
- Choking on liquids or solids now
- Difficulty breathing making grunting noises or sucking their stomach in under their ribcage
- Unable to stay awake: cannot keep their eyes open for more than a few seconds
- Blue, grey, pale or blotchy skin, tongue or lips: on brown or black skin, grey or blue palms or soles of the feet
- Limp and floppy: their head falls to the side, backwards or forwards
- Heavy bleeding: spraying, pouring or enough to make a puddle
- Severe injuries: after a serious accident or assault
- Signs of a stroke: face dropping on one side, cannot hold both arms up, difficulty speaking
- Sudden rapid swelling of the lips, mouth, throat or tongue
- Sudden confusion: agitation, odd behaviour or non-stop crying
Source: NHS
Pippa was given antibiotics and an urgent chest X-ray, which showed she had pneumonia that had caused a “complete whiteout” of her left lung.
As medics prepared to transfer her to a third hospital, Pippa suffered two cardiac arrests.
She passed away after the second and was declared dead shortly after 1pm on June 13.
Dr Buckmaster said Pippa would have “almost certainly” survived if she’d been treated with antibiotics 12 or 18 hours earlier.
“I wish with all my heart that we had a different outcome,” he said.
“I hope that this process can bring some answers for you and possibly some changes for the better,” the paediatrician told Pippa’s family.
The inquest is due to resume in May next year.
