There’s a “small” chance that a seven-year-old girl would still be alive if she had received medical treatment sooner from Perth Children’s Hospital, a coronial inquest has found.
Aishwarya Aswath died at Perth Children’s Hospital on Easter Saturday in April 2021 from multi-organ failure after a Group A Streptococcal infection turned into sepsis.
She had been waiting at hospital for 90 minutes.
“Based on the expert evidence, the deputy state coroner also found there was a small possibility that Aishwarya’s death might have been prevented if she had been given urgent medical treatment shortly after she first arrived at PCH,” the report from WA deputy coroner Sarah Linton said.
Parents Aswath Chavittupara and Prasitha Sasidharan took their daughter to the emergency department after what they believed was a viral illness did not improve.
She was initially categorised as a non-urgent patient, waiting an hour and a half for her to go beyond the waiting room despite her parents continually raising their concerns about her worsening condition with staff.
It was only when Aishwarya was too weak to take ibuprofen by herself that nurses asked a doctor to review her, according to the report.
She passed away from “natural causes” three-and-a-half hours after she arrived at the hospital.
“This type of sepsis can be difficult to diagnose, particularly in children, and without early antibiotic treatment it is often fatal,” the report found.
The deputy coroner made five recommendations to the state government, the department o Health and Child and Adolescent Health Service (CAHS) including ensuring a minimum nurse to patient ratio in the emergency department and a dedicated resuscitation team to be stationed at PCH emergency.
She also recommended that CAHS consider implementing a new procedure for observations to be taken at triage or alternatively within half an hour by the waiting room nurse when children present with gastrointestinal symptoms.
Since Aishwarya’s death, the WA government has spent millions on the hospitals emergency department, doubling the existing team by hiring an additional 46 nurses.
Other recommendations included introducing “safe harbour” provisions to protect nurses from APHRA investigation and prosecution when an adverse event occurs.
More to come.