Amanda Healy: The NHS allowed my daughter to die
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
Print
Email
When my nine-year-old daughter, Daisy, died, a doctor at the hospital said to me: "It's almost like losing a child." What did he think my beautiful daughter was?
Daisy had gone into hospital with a tooth infection. Three weeks later she was dead. Her experience echoes many of the stories in the Death by Indifference report published by the mental health charity Mencap last year and in the independent inquiry that the report prompted, the findings of which came out yesterday.
Daisy was very tiny and particularly cute. But while doctors saw that she had one little chromosome that was damaged, they did not see her personality and infectious giggle. We loved Daisy exactly as she was and would never have wished her to be different. She was the most delightful, happy little girl. She loved all the things a child should: playing, her sister Ella and dancing with Daddy.
Daisy tried so hard with this world. She just wanted to please people and make them smile. But when Daisy needed help, she was let down.
We were always worried that what Daisy had was was much more serious than toothache. But it wasn't until a year later, in the course of the independent inquiry, that we discovered that the tooth infection had led to septicaemia.
We spent three weeks in and out of hospital. During these three weeks, Daisy was never treated as though her life was in danger, nor was there any urgency. At one point Daisy had not had anything to drink for three days. She had diarrhoea and had been sick. Yet the staff would not turn her drip on.
Later, when Daisy began gasping for breath, we were told she would be transferred immediately to ICU. We had to watch as Daisy became more and more distressed. Her nose was bleeding, her eyes were bruised and her breathing got faster and faster. I kept telling Daisy just to keep breathing and they'd be here in a minute. I was wrong. They didn't come, and this went on for nine hours. It was all too much for Daisy. She had a massive pulmonary haemorrhage, which led to her death.
After Daisy died, we discovered that staff were fully aware that Daisy's life was in danger. They did not try to save her, they just documented her decline. This was not an accident. They later told us "they had misjudged her quality of life". For your daughter to die in such terrifying circumstances and to find out nothing was done is quite unbearable.
People tend to perceive that we are over-protected nowadays – particularly people with a disability. They believe that the world has gone human-rights mad. But how can this be true, if our beautiful daughter was not protected? The laws that exist are meaningless if they don't work and there are no consequences for the people who break them.
Medics need to be educated, and learn to appreciate all human beings. A senior member of staff stated: "Parents like you should realise children like these are going to die sooner or later." This is not true, and if we have a chance to live, we should get it.
Daisy died on 10 October 2005 in a great deal of pain and distress. As parents, our expectations were not excessive. What we did expect was for our lovely daughter to be treated fairly, and be given the care she needed to save her life. Had she not had a learning disability, Daisy would not have been treated this way. This is the unacceptable ending to her happy and amazing life.
Post a comment
Limit: 1000 characters
View all comments that have been posted about this article
Offensive or abusive comments will be removed and your IP address logged and may be used to prevent further submissions. In submitting a comment to the site, you agree to be bound by Independent.co.uk's Terms of Use
I cannot say all the words I'd like to in this comment, as it would not be allowed for how abusive it would be at the medical staff that let this child die in such pain and with such arrogance and neglect. It should not be the case that loved ones and patients need to fight and make a fuss to get proper treatment -- but that is the way things are. Unlike poor Daisy and her distressed family, when something similar happned to me, I was an otherwise healthy, mentally average adult -- but I was not dressed well that day, having come to the hopsital directly from the garden. I was hemorraging and had been for 3 months after a miscarriage. I was told this was normal. Treated like an idiot and an annoyance and told to go home. That is until my husband screamed at them, threatened to leave the hospital and go direclty to the newspapers -- I saw a consultant in 15 minutes. The problem? They left surgical gauze in me after my operation 3 months prior! I was lucky not to have died. Shameful!!!!
Posted by Kerris | 30.07.08, 09:28 GMT
I'm so sorry for Daisy's family that they lost this child that they so loved.
Several members of my family have experienced medical mis-diagnosis and surgical blunders, in one tragic case a cancer that took 18 months to diagnose and which ended in death.
All the se medical errors were simply due to one thing; the arrogance of the doctors involved who were unable and unwilling to listen to their patient's own body wisdom and so dismissed their concerns.
We need to train our young doctors to realise that they are in service to their patients, not the othr way round.
Posted by Kruse | 30.07.08, 09:04 GMT
This story made me feel so sad. My condolences to Daisy's family. May her little soul rest in peace.
Posted by Andrea | 30.07.08, 08:57 GMT
Perhaps we should remember Toynbee's "We become what we fight" in contemplating our triumph over the Nazis, Industrial medicine in an atheist world is very frightening. While the arrogance of doctors is disgraceful ,far more pernicious is the stupid attitude of the public , unthinkingly turning to ordinary people with a few years of narrow training as though they were knowledgeable beyond the rest of us in matters of which they have no special knowledge. I have worked for many years with children like Daisy and cannot think of one who was not lovable and innocent in a way that is unique. I have also encountered doctors who were either frightened to deal with children where life expectancy was short or who were only interested in research in the field--very few were useful,and most were a disaster.The latter copped out in working with the children's physical problems ,did not listen to the patients with care nor did they treat the presenting symptoms properly.
Posted by P.Taylor | 30.07.08, 07:23 GMT
God in Heaven!! What a horrible tragedy to happen to this family!! What gives these doctors the right to play God with this child's life, whether or not she has is learning disabled?? Someone DEFINITELY needs to end up in prison for this!!!
My deepest condolences to the parents of this little child who was let down so cruelly by the system.
Posted by Carol | 30.07.08, 04:41 GMT
This seems to me a case in which the interest of the medical personnel did not switch on, due to the low proitability of this case. As all the university medical departments worldwide are now supported by the drug industry, this profit mindset is well indoctrinated. Now, had there been an expensive new drug for her chromosomal problem....
Posted by ThomasT | 30.07.08, 03:40 GMT
The Hippocratic Oath has no value as medical staff take patients lives 'into their own hands'. A shocking indictment of the system. Daisy deserved better. Hopefully justice will be done but I doubt it as the medics close ranks. Heart felt condolences to Daisy's family.
Posted by Theresa Felsinger | 30.07.08, 02:55 GMT
What a sad, sad story and how typical of socialized medicine. Just the sort of thing we may expect in the USA if we adopt the British or Canadian systems of health care.
Posted by Reis Kash | 30.07.08, 01:44 GMT
This is a horrible story, and I fear the more we rely on government to "take care of us" the more these things will happen. Government does not love you, does not care about whether you live or die. It cares about the bottom line. I'm sorry for your loss.
Posted by Eliza | 30.07.08, 01:41 GMT