Is there enough children in NSW for Ms Meagher to show her incompetence? Days after grinning through a whitewash of of Royal North Shore's tragic run, comes this report of an 8 yo who dies after being misdiagnosed.
It begins to get confusing, as we are not in the middle of an election campaign, yet the NSW government still project incompetence that threatens the welfare of all NSW. And Meagher keeps her silly grin.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Another Child Dies From Hospital Care
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Boy dies after misdiagnosis
By Sharri Markson
AN eight-year-old boy was sent home by two Sydney hospitals before dying of meningitis a week before Christmas.
Isaraelu Pele, a year two student at Punchbowl Public School, was told by medical staff at Bankstown and Westmead Children's Hospital he needed only to take painkillers and drink lemonade, despite pleas for help from his family.
Now, instead of watching him in his church's Christmas Eve musical tomorrow, his parents will bury the gentle young boy they call Elu.
He became the latest victim of the NSW hospital crisis after falling ill on December 13 and then being passed from one medical professional to the next without a correct diagnosis.
When he first became ill, complaining of nausea, headaches and vomiting, his mother took him to Bankstown Medical Centre.
"The doctor told us to give him Gatorade and he prescribed him anti-nausea medication," his mother, Fai Pele said.
When her son was still sick last Saturday, suffering severe head and neck pain, Mrs Pele took him to their family general practitioner, who prescribed him Panamax.
On Sunday afternoon, the family were attending carols at Wiley Park when Elu started vomiting blood and Mr Pele immediately rushed him to Bankstown Hospital around 6pm.
"He was vomiting in front of the van and the blood came up from his mouth," Mrs Pele said.
Elu recorded a temperature of 39 degrees and was initially placed in a hospital bed for tests, but asked to vacate for another patient at 8pm.
He lay on his mother's lap in the waiting room from 8pm until 11pm when doctors discharged him, telling Mrs Pele there was nothing wrong with her son.
"He was still complaining of neck and back pain, he couldn't keep his head up," Mrs Pele said.
"We were sitting there from 8 to 11. They discharged us from the waiting area, they said to give him Panamax and lemonade."
However, Elu's condition worsened overnight.
He could not eat, continued to vomit blood and complained of extreme pain in his head and neck. He stopped being able to walk.
On Monday at 10am, his parents took him to Westmead Children's Hospital, where they remained for 12 hours.
"His head was rolling around, he was vomiting blood, his fever was 38 degrees. he couldn't even look at us," Mrs Pele said.
But at 10.30pm, doctors told Mrs Pele, who works as an aged-care nurse, to take her son home.
"The registered nurse came up to me and said, 'You are free to go home'," Mrs Pele said. "They said they couldn't find anything wrong with him.
"Telling us to go home was not fair. He was still sick, he wasn't eating, it was really painful for us.
"I said 'Look at him, he's still sick.' They tried to force him to walk and sit up, but he couldn't. He kept falling on me. They said give him Panamax."
On the following evening, Mrs Pele panicked when Elu's forehead grew cold while he was sleeping about 6pm.
The family rushed him to Bankstown Hospital. Little Elu still had a pulse when he arrived at the hospital. However, about 40 minutes later, doctors told Mrs Pele her son had died.
"The doctors came in and said, 'Your son is dead'," Mr Pele said.
"They showed no respect for the family. They didn't even say it in a polite manner."
The family said a coroner had phoned them the next day to tell them Elu had died from meningitis, a serious illness that is curable if treated promptly.
Elu lived with his five brothers and sisters, aged five to 19, at his family home in Bankstown.
Elu's brothers had been teaching him to sing the lead in Oh Happy Days to perform at their church Christmas Idol competition tomorrow.
Poa Pele, 17, said his younger brother loved reading, drawing and enjoyed practising his neat handwriting.
Poa said Elu had a cheeky nature and was a great rugby player, often scoring eight tries in one game.
"He always asked me to teach him how to drop-kick," Poa said.
Health Minister Reba Meagher said the child's death has been referred to the Coroner for investigation.
"The death of a child at any time is extremely tragic and our thoughts and sympathies are with the child's family, particularly so close to Christmas," she said.
Mrs Pele said she was considering legal action against the hospital. "I feel so angry, I want to sue them, It's the loss of my little boy," she said.
Four top docs fail to give test
By Edith Bevin and Bruce McDougall
FOUR of the state's top doctors failed to give eight-year-old meningitis victim Isaraelu Pele the one test that could have saved his life, it was revealed yesterday.
As a full investigation into Isaraelu's death was announced, the Children's Hospital at Westmead admitted the boy was not given a test for meningitis during his nine hours under its care.
The revelation came as almost 300 mourners farewelled the talented rugby union player at a moving memorial service.
The Children's Hospital at Westmead CEO Tony Penna admitted four senior doctors failed to recognise the symptoms of meningitis that killed Isaraelu last Tuesday.
He said the boy had been seen by "all the senior staff", including the resident registrar and consultant fellow, during his time at the hospital.
But he revealed the battery of tests run on the Year 2 Punchbowl Public School student did not include a lumbar puncture - the one test that would have diagnosed his condition.
Less than 24 hours after doctors told Isaraelu's family he was merely dehydrated, the child was dead.
Dr Penna announced a full investigation, headed by an external expert and with the input of Isaraelu's grief-stricken family, would be held.
"This is a tragic event, we really do need to look into this objectively with a proper investigation," he said.
"I stand by the competence and expertise of my staff."
Dr Penna said it would be inefficient to test every child who presented at hospital for meningitis showing symptoms such as vomiting and headaches. The disease could progress rapidly from general symptoms to a serious condition, he said. All tests conducted on Isaraelu, including a blood count, came back normal.
But that was of little comfort to mourners who packed the Congregational Christian Church at Moorebank yesterday. In a moving tribute to his young brother, Andrew Pele, 19, joked that Isaraelu had been the favourite and that he was "a very good kid".
Mourners included the schoolboy's parents Lila and Fai, who watched as Andrew played the guitar and was joined by other friends and relatives in a tribute song.
Outside the chapel a family friend was scathing of the hospital staff, saying that, in his belief, if four senior doctors failed to even consider meningitis as a possibility "they should not be practising medicine".
"This is not a woman who came with her first newborn," the friend said.
"She's a mother of six who knew something was really wrong with her child. The way this family has been treated is disgusting."
Isaraelu's body was last night at the family's home where a vigil was held in his bedroom ahead of a funeral today.
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