The case involved a 5 year old girl with Down Syndrome who presented at the Emergency Department of the Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham, with a bacterial infection (Streptococcus pyogenes) but who was sent home without antibiotics as it was thought more likely that she was suffering with a virus. The clinicians accepted in evidence that they had failed to apply the Sepsis 6 pathway or NICE guidelines or to take account of the fact that Ava was more vulnerable to infection as a result of her Down Syndrome. They also accepted that had antibiotics been administered and the Sepsis 6 guidance been followed then she would have survived.
The case has been widely reported on the news and can be viewed here:
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/health-50020328/mother-s-sepsis-warning-after-hospital-failure
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-49555367
- https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7420275/Girl-five-died-sepsis-hours-E-medics-blamed-rash-virus.html
- https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/nottingham-news/mother-hopes-daughters-legacy-help-3426277
- https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9850364/girl-dies-sepsis-paracetamol-nottingham-illness/
- https://www.metro.news/hospital-doctors-failed-to-spot-fatal-sepsis-in-ava-5/1701223/
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