Suffolk, UK – 3rd March, 2017: A young boy with sleep apnoea died in hospital amid claims vital monitoring equipment was turned off for almost THREE HOURS.
James Dwerryhouse, 7, was starved of oxygen at the same hospital where Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie were born.
The youngster from Suffolk, who needed constant monitoring when asleep, had been in for a routine operation at London's Portland Hospital for ongoing health issues.
Afterwards he appeared fine and even enjoyed a Facetime session with his brothers and sisters from his hospital bed. But a Serious Incident Report has revealed nurses removed vital monitoring equipment after the operation at 1.15am and didn't reconnect it until 3.25am.
Just hours later James' parents, John, and Marguerite, both 51, were called back to hospital and told their son was unlikely to recover.
He was transferred to the Treehouse Hospice in Ipswich, Suffolk, where he died the following day on August 28 – just two days after his successful operation. The nurses are now being investigated by police over the death of James and the family have since launched legal action.
His mother, Marguerite, said: "It has been completely heart-breaking. James had health issues and needed a lot of health support in his life, but he was full of life, cheeky, funny, happy, and occasionally mischievous, like all little boys. Only days earlier he'd been to a summer club and he'd been chasing around, up and down the slides and having a great time. He wasn't a fragile boy at all, he wasn't poorly, and he certainly wasn't a boy who was at risk of dying. This was a routine operation, and the operation itself was a complete success. To then lose him simply because hospital staff haven't cared for him and checked on him as they should is something we cannot accept and never will. We still don't know the full truth. We know the police have been looking into the matter, and now we also have solicitors acting on our behalf, so hopefully we will get there in the end. We need to for James. Until now we've been very quiet and even people close to us have been unaware of how James was let down and why he died. People need to know though, and we need to know exactly what happened that night."
James was found unresponsive in his bed by night staff after his monitoring equipment was allegedly switched off and not turned back on for close to three hours. Despite emergency attempts to save him, James suffered an irreversible hypoxic brain injury and died after his life-support was withdrawn the following day.
The nursing staff on duty that night have been criticised in the Serious Incident Report - which have now been passed to the Coroner, the Metropolitan Police Service, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), and Medical Advisory Committee for further investigation.
Marguerite added: "James had successfully come through an operation to fit a colostomy bag at the hospital, which had been arranged to improve his bowel management and help ensure he was better prepared for moving into a new class at school.
"We cannot believe his life is now over and he will never get to join his class mates."
James' family are now launching legal action against HCA Healthcare UK, owners of the Portland Hospital, through medical negligence specialists Hudgell Solicitors.
Rosamund Rhodes-Kemp, a clinical negligence solicitor, said: "This case is that a huge, unforgivable error was made in that James' monitoring equipment was turned off when it should have remained on at all times.
"Had the equipment remained on, no matter what other things were happening that night on the intensive care unit, staff would have been immediately alerted to any danger. What is totally unacceptable is the lack of detail and clarity forthcoming so far with regard to the specifics of what happened that night. Conflicting accounts have been provided as to what exactly happened when James was found not breathing.”
"This means it has yet to be made clear whether the alarm was raised immediately, or whether there was a 20 minute delay, which obviously could have had a big impact on James's chances of survival.
"Further serious questions now need asking by the relevant authorities, of all those involved in caring for James at the hospital that night. Answers must be forthcoming. This is a tragic case. This family took their son to hospital for a straight forward operation which passed without issue. He then died simply because of failures in monitoring."
A spokesperson for The Portland Hospital for Women & Children said: “We send our deepest sympathy to the family of James Dwerryhouse. "We are cooperating with all investigations, and we are unable to comment further until they are completed.”
A spokesperson for the MET Police said: "On August 28 2016, police were called to a central London hospital following the death of a seven-year-old boy. The boy was admitted to a central London hospital on Wednesday August 24. The death was passed onto the Westminster Coroner and Westminster CID officers are undertaking inquiries on behalf of the coroner. The death is deemed to be non-suspicious. No-one has been arrested. A date for the inquest has not yet been set."
Source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/boy-7-died-after-hospital-9959117