A consultant paediatrician has been unable to work at the hospital that failed to save her son from a sepsis infection, after “feelings of betrayal” towards her medical colleagues who ignored her warnings about errors in his treatment.
William Hewes, 22, a history and politics student, died on 21 January 2023 of meningococcal septicaemia at Homerton hospital in east London, where his mother, Dr Deborah Burns, had worked for more than 20 years.
Appearing at the inquest into her son’s death, Burns said: “It is impossible for words to describe adequately the pain of this immense loss and the feelings of betrayal that I feel about William’s death and the aftermath.”
Bow coroner’s court heard that Burns had been “unable to work” at the hospital since witnessing a series of medical blunders at her son’s bedside.
In a statement read to the court, she said: “From my direct experience as a witness, plus what I’ve seen in the notes and in statements, it’s my opinion that the medical staff involved in William’s care failed to observe him in any clinically useful way.”
After bringing her son to the hospital’s A&E department shortly after midnight, Burns asked medics repeatedly to administer life-saving antibiotics in the vital first hour of his treatment. On Thursday, the inquest heard that antibiotics were not given until 1.25am because of a misunderstanding between a doctor and nurses.
On Friday, Burns told the inquest: “In terms of antibiotics, I believe that these were only given when they were because I was there. I raised a concern about the lack of antibiotics eight times before they were administered.”
In her statement, she said she grew increasingly desperate by her son’s bedside.
She said: “William had one cannula in his left antecubital fossa [a dip in the front of the elbow] with no three-way tap, which meant he could only have one medication at a time. He was given fluid, two doses of morphine and paracetamol before he was given antibiotics. By 1.15am I had become desperate and tried to squeeze some of the paracetamol through in order to free up the cannula for the antibiotics.”
Burns explained she had to help one of the resident doctors treating her son. She said: “The medical registrar told me that he was unfamiliar with the intravenous morphine, compelling me to advise him, which I did, as I wanted the antibiotics given.”
She also highlighted delays in transferring her son from the hospital’s resuscitation (resus) area into intensive care.
Burns said: “I witnessed that the emergency department and medical registrars were clearly not happy that the intensive care registrar would not accept referral of William. I believe that he was left unmonitored and untreated in resus for far too long.”
Burns said mistakes continued in intensive care. She said: “His care was no better on the intensive care unit until it was too late. When the decision was made to intubate I was in deep despair. I had a suspicion that we would lose him completely, as his blood pressure would fall on intubation.
“I decided to call William’s father – we are divorced – as I suspected that he would never see William again if he did not come to the hospital as soon as possible.”
Dr Ron Daniels, an intensive care consultant and founder of the UK Sepsis trust, said Hewes could have been saved if he had been given antibiotics within minutes and intensive care treatment had been brought forward by two hours.
He told the court: “If we took 100 22-year-old adults in William’s condition, more than 50%, in fact, more like 70% to 75%, would survive.|
Daniels added: “Based on the evidence I put forward, together with 23 years of clinical experience, I strongly believe that had William received timely care, according to national and international guidelines, he would have had at least a 50% chance of surviving this illness.”
Dr Mathuratha Sivasubramaniam, the duty intensive care registrar, said she initially refused to admit Hewes to the unit, because he was showing signs of improvement.
Neil Sheldon KC, the barrister for the Hewes family, questioned the reliability of Sivasubramaniam’s statement. The coroner, Mary Hassell, explained that Sivasubramaniam could not be questioned because she had since left the UK.
Petr Dlouhy, an intensive care consultant, was informed about Hewes’s deteriorating condition shortly after 3am. He told the court he would have advised transferring Hewes to intensive care earlier if he had been informed sooner about his worsening condition.
He said: “If I had heard that he looks very unwell and has a high heart rate and low blood pressure, and an already impaired kidney function, obviously I would admit him.”
Asked if earlier admission could have saved Hewes, he said: “I don’t know if it would have made a difference.”
The inquest continues.
