Senior doctor's failures in teenager's care ‘amounted to gross negligence'

South Wales Argus

8 hours ago

Professor Richard Thompson did not refer Martha Mills, 13, to intensive care despite her displaying several high-risk indicators of sepsis and the on-call consultant also chose not to return to London's King's College Hospital to assess her in person.
Martha had been an inpatient on the hospital's Rays of Sunshine Ward at King's College Hospital after she suffered a serious injury to her pancreas when she slipped while riding a bike on a family holiday in Wales in July 2021.
Weeks later, she experienced a fever, increased heart rate and had a catheter inserted into her vein, which was 'ultimately considered' to be a likely source of the infection that led to her death from sepsis, the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) hearing was told.
More spikes in her temperature followed, before the consultant hepatologist saw Martha on his morning ward round on Sunday August 29 at the hospital, one of three locations in the UK which specialise in the treatment of paediatric pancreatic injuries.
The on-call consultant left the hospital at 3pm, but was phoned at home two hours later by a trainee doctor, who gave an update on Martha's condition.
Medical records showed she had deteriorated over the course of the afternoon, and into the early evening, with a drop in her blood pressure, the appearance of a new rash and increases in heart rate, respiratory rate and body temperature.
Tribunal chairman Robin Ince noted that by 5pm there were 'several high-risk indicators' as set out in the Nice guidelines relating to sepsis.
The duty registrar called Prof Thompson again at 8.30pm because of ongoing concerns over Martha's fever, but she was kept on the ward despite the continued presence of moderate to high-risk indicators and the absence of meaningful clinical improvement, said the tribunal.
Following the death of their daughter Martha, Merope Mills and Paul Laity campaigned for the creation of Martha's Rule, allowing patients, families and carers the chance to easily request a second opinion from a senior doctor in the same hospital (Mills/Laity family photograph/PA)
On Monday, the tribunal concluded that Prof Thompson's conduct fell so far short of the standards reasonably expected of a doctor so as to amount to misconduct.
Mr Ince said: 'The tribunal was of the view that Professor Thompson's omissions were 'particularly grave' and essentially amounted to gross negligence about the serious risk of harm to patients (albeit only on this one occasion) and were sufficiently serious in any event such as to amount to misconduct.'
Martha collapsed on August 30 and was moved to intensive care, before she was transferred to London's Great Ormond Street Hospital, where she died in the early hours of August 31.
At a 2022 inquest into her death, a coroner ruled that Martha would most likely have survived if doctors had identified the warning signs and transferred her to intensive care earlier.
Martha's mother, Merope Mills, an editor at The Guardian, said she and her husband, Paul Laity, raised concerns about Martha's deteriorating health a number of times but these were not acted on.
The couple later successfully campaigned for Martha's Rule to give patients, families and carers the chance to easily request a second opinion from a senior doctor in the same hospital in the event of a suspected deterioration or serious concern.
The tribunal will now consider what sanction, if any, to impose on Prof Thompson's registration.
The MPTS hearing, sitting in Manchester, continues on Tuesday.