22-05-2025
Sandipan Dhar's father says family was 'betrayed' by Joondalup Health Campus in days before his death
A coronial inquest into the death of a toddler at a Perth hospital has ended with emotional testimony from the boy's father, who said Joondalup Health Campus "destroyed our life".
Sandipan Dhar died at the hospital on March 24 last year.
His parents brought their 21-month-old son to the emergency department on March 22, after he had been feverish for weeks.
A GP sent the family to the emergency department with a letter requesting Sandipan get blood tests, among other examinations.
But the Dhar family left hospital that night without staff taking Sandipan's blood.
He died when they returned to hospital two days later. An autopsy revealed the boy had undiagnosed acute leukaemia.
The coronial inquest has been called to determine whether Sandipan's life may have been saved if his bloods were taken on March 22.
After listening in court for three days, Sandipan's father, Sanjoy Dhar, chose to take the stand in an emotional testimony.
Mr Dhar asked to take the oath in his son's name while his pictures were exhibited behind him.
"I've been waiting for this day for [a] long time," he told the court.
He said his family did not want to see anyone sent to prison over the incident.
But Mr Dhar told the court he cannot accept that he and his family "left the ED without having [the doctor's] concern".
"I went there straight from the GP," he said.
"Sandipan was not taken care [of] properly on Friday night.
"As a family, we consider we have been betrayed.
Mr Dhar made it clear the actions of the staff when the family returned two nights later were not the issue, because he accepted it was too late by then.
The lawyer representing Joondalup Health Campus staff, Grant Donaldson SC, took the opportunity to tell Mr Dhar that it was very common two people recall a moment or conversation differently.
"It doesn't mean one person is lying and one person is not lying," he told the court.
"Hopefully, you will be able to accept that some people have honestly and genuinely a different recollection of some of these matters.
"I would urge you to try and understand that if you are able to."
The lawyer representing the Dhar family told the court, according to Mr Dhar's evidence, the final words senior ED consultant Dr Yii Siow said when they left the hospital that night were: "Your son is beautiful, take him home, there is nothing wrong with him."
"Did you say that?" Counsel Piet Jarmen asked Dr Siow.
"No," Dr Siow told the court.
She told the court she was not concerned when the family left hospital because Sandipan "looked well" and she was confident he had viral tonsillitis.
"[I] just thought it would be fine," Dr Siow told the court.
The court heard Dr Siow and the family planned to do a urine test to rule out a urinary tract infection and assumed they may return the following day to complete it.
She told the court she did not get the impression Sandipan's condition was more serious.
When the family did return two days later, Sandipan's health had drastically declined.
A checklist of symptoms and notes were read out to the junior ED doctor, Caolan O'Hearrain, and his senior consultant, Dr Siow, relating to Sandipan's condition on March 22.
The court heard the family told Dr O'Hearrain they had come to the ED because their GP wanted Sandipan to get a blood test.
When Dr O'Hearrain was asked if he relayed that information to Dr Siow, he told the court "I believe I did but I can't 100 per cent confirm".
But Dr Siow told the court she did not receive that vital note.
Of the 14 notes, Dr Siow told the court she could only confidently recall hearing two during her handover with Dr O'Hearrain.
The thought of doing a blood test did cross her mind, but the court heard she wanted to receive the urine test results first.
Dr Siow also told the court she did not read the letter from the GP, which in hindsight she accepted would have been "ideal".
