Family ‘heard hospital staff laughing’ while boy’s life support was switched off

The family of a five-year-old boy who died in hospital say they heard staff laughing nearby as his life support was switched off.

Muhammad Ayaan Haroon died on March 13, eight days after being admitted to Sheffield Children’s Hospital with breathing problems.

His family claimed hospital staff provided poor bereavement care and showed substantially inadequate cultural sensitivity after his death.

A draft report into Ayaan’s death upheld most of their complaints, concluding it ‘undoubtedly added to the trauma of the family’.

Of 736 complaint points submitted by Ayaan’s family, investigators upheld 307 points, partly upheld 171, did not uphold 174 and could not substantiate 61 points.

They said 23 points did not require an outcome judgement.

But investigators from Niche Health and Social Care Consulting concluded whatever changes could have been made would have been unlikely to keep Ayaan alive.

That’s something the boy’s family can’t accept, according to his father, taxi driver Haroon Rashid, 42.

He said: ‘The way I see it there was a catalogue of catastrophic errors that were made… that cost him his life.’

Ayaan, who had a rare genetic condition called Hace 1, was admitted to Sheffield Children’s Hospital five times with respiratory illnesses. Each time, both his symptoms and treatment escalated.

When his condition deteriorated after being admitted on March 5, Ayaan was transferred to intensive care where he died eight days later from overwhelming disseminated adenovirus bronchopneumonia.

But there were missed opportunities to marginally increase his chance of survival – including earlier escalation to intensive care, earlier insertion of a chest drain and earlier intubation.

Staff and bed capacity issues caused a four-hour delay to Ayaan’s transfer, according to the report, which said he should have been started on high flow oxygen therapy sooner than he was.

The medical clinical handover on the ward where he was first admitted was chaotic and ineffective, with ‘the potential for the sickest children not to be adequately handed over at the change of shift’.

No side room was available in the busy unit ‘to support a private dignified death which, while unavoidable, added to the family’s distress’, the report said.

As a result, Ayaan’s family say they heard hospital staff laughing in a nearby room.

The likelihood of Ayaan’s survival had been poorly communicated to his family, and after he died, there was a failure to provide timely bereavement support, the report found.

While this did not constitute ‘systemic or individual harassment or victimisation’, staff did not find out if the family had any specific cultural wishes regarding Ayaan’s last rites and the management of his body.

The absence of this from the NHS trust’s police ‘may be seen as indirectly discriminatory’, the report said.

Mr Rashid said: ‘Although it’s very critical of the care my son received, the main thing for us as a family is despite it saying his care was mismanaged, it still says the outcome would not have changed. We as a family can’t accept that.’

He added: ‘We want a second investigation, for the truth and for the report to reflect the true care that my son received. Our ultimate goal is for genuine lessons to be learned.’

The report made 15 recommendations, including alternative strategies for ventilatory support on the ward where an intensive care bed is not available and guidelines on handling the ‘immediate post-death period’.

It also recommended having a staff member who shares the same ethnic background to act as a link worker for the bereavement process, and organising unconscious bias training for all clinic staff.

Dr Jeff Perring, executive medical director at Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, said: ‘We express our deepest condolences to Ayaan’s family for their loss.

‘We commissioned an independent investigation into the care and treatment of Ayaan. The draft report, with recommendations, has now been shared with Ayaan’s family for their feedback.

‘During the investigation we have addressed a number of concerns from Ayaan’s family and we are committed to working with the family to address the learning within the draft report.

‘We are working alongside NHS South Yorkshire to make sure Ayaan’s family have the support they need, as they review the draft report before it is finalised and published.’

A spokesperson for NHS South Yorkshire said: ‘We would again like to offer our sincere condolences to Ayaan’s family for the loss and distress they have experienced.

‘We’re continuing to work very closely and support Ayaan’s family and have met with Ayaan’s father to share with him the draft report into Ayaan’s care.

‘As this report is still in draft we’re currently at the stage where everyone, most importantly Ayaan’s family, have the opportunity to fully read and provide feedback and comment before the final report is released.’

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