Latest news with #congenitalheartdefect
The Independent
5 days ago
- General
- The Independent
Coroner has ‘no doubt' diagnosis could have prevented death of baby boy
A coroner has said there were 'missed opportunities' from 'many' medical visits which could have saved the life of a one-year-old boy. Archie Squire died from heart failure in the early hours of November 23 2023, after successive cardiac arrests, days after his first birthday. He was suffering from a rare heart defect in which the heart's lower half is reversed, which was never diagnosed despite at least 16 visits to medical staff in his 368 days of life. On Friday, the inquest at Kent and Medway Coroner's Court in Maidstone, heard that if Archie had been diagnosed earlier he would 'almost certainly not have died at the time he did'. Area coroner Sarah Clarke said: 'I have no doubt earlier recognition and diagnosis of a very rare heart condition would have made a difference to the outcome for Archie. 'There are many points in the chronology where there were missed opportunities to do something differently to make the diagnosis of Archie's condition more likely.' Archie's parents made repeated visits to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (QEQM) Hospital in Margate, Kent, and to St James' Surgery in Dover, with concerns about Archie's breathing and constipation which did not lead to long-term diagnoses. The coroner continued: 'He died as a direct result of heart failure with an underlying congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries – a rare condition that could have been diagnosed by an echocardiogram. 'Despite many presentations to medical personnel in the weeks and months leading up to his death, an echocardiogram was not undertaken.' His mother, Lauren Parrish, from Dover, recalled her son being labelled a 'mystery child' because doctors were not sure what was wrong with him. 'It felt like every time we sought medical help for his breathing he was diagnosed with some form of chest infection,' Ms Parrish said in a statement read by the coroner. Ms Clarke added that if a diagnosis had been found for Archie 'he would almost certainly not have died at the time that he did'. A report by paediatric cardiac surgeon Professor David Anderson noted an 'unacceptable' delay in Archie receiving an echocardiogram after being referred to QEQM by a GP on October 6. He wrote: 'If his diagnosis had been correctly made, he almost certainly would not have died when he did.' It added that 'the delay in obtaining an echo was unacceptable'. Last week, Ravindra Kumar, a paediatric registrar at QEQM responsible for Archie on the night he died, cried in court describing how his work has changed since Archie's death. Asked what he would do differently, Dr Kumar said: 'I regret talking about Archie's condition in front of the family to others, to my colleagues, I learned a big lesson to be more compassionate.' Medical records and Dr Kumar's witness statement suggest he did not see Archie between 9.30pm and 1am on the night he died, the inquest heard. Archie's godmother Nikki Escudier read a pen portrait of Archie to the court. She said: 'Archie Squire was a shining light. A little boy whose laughter, love and joy touched everyone lucky enough to know him. 'Born on November 20 2022, Archie brought happiness into the world from the very beginning. 'In just 368 precious days, he filled every moment with warmth, laughter and the kind of love that stays with you forever. 'His smile lit up the room and his presence left a lasting mark on every heart he touched.' The coroner commended Archie's family on their support for each other throughout the process, and has asked the East Kent Hospitals Trust to provide further evidence of their updated action plans and procedures since Archie's death. At the conclusion of the inquest, Tracey Fletcher, chief executive of East Kent Hospitals, said: 'We offer our sincere condolences to Archie's family. We can only imagine the pain they have endured and we are truly sorry that we did not identify Archie's condition earlier. 'After meeting with Archie's family, we have made important changes to our service. These include one standard process for triage and booking of child referrals, and prioritising the assessment of children referred to us. We will examine further learnings identified through the inquest process. 'Staff across the trust now receive specialised training to improve how clinical concerns, diagnoses and plans are discussed with families in our care. The training for our children's health team specifically draws on lessons learned from Archie's death.'
BBC News
5 days ago
- General
- BBC News
'Missed opportunities' to prevent death of baby Archie Squires
A baby boy "almost certainly would not have died when he did" if his rare heart condition had been diagnosed, an inquest has Squires suffered heart failure just days after his first birthday and died in November 2023 after more than 10 visits to the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (QEQM) Hospital in Clarke, area coroner for North East Kent, concluded that there was "no doubt" that an earlier diagnosis of a congenital heart defect would have "altered the outcome" of his Clarke also echoed a report by East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, which highlighted "missed opportunities" that could have prevented his death.
The Sun
07-05-2025
- Health
- The Sun
‘Absolutely perfect' newborn baby died from missed ‘hole in the heart' after mum spotted her eyelid twitching
ESME Atkinson was just one month old when she died due to a "hole in her heart" - which was only discovered during a post-mortem examination. The newborn 's condition led to a bleed on her brain, an inquest has heard. 1 Esme's mum Ellen Roberts recalled the moment she found she was going to lose her baby daughter. During an inquest hearing at South Manchester Coroner's Court, she said: "The doctors came out to us and said they've been working on her for half an hour." She added: "They said: 'Your baby's going to die', which is the worst thing you can say to anyone." A post-mortem examination found Esme had a ventricular septal defect (VSD), reports Manchester Evening News. VSD is a congenital heart defect where there's a hole in the wall (septum) that separates the two lower chambers (ventricles) of the heart. The condition makes it more difficult for blood to be pumped efficiently around the body. Senior coroner Alison Mutch OBE heard while neither of her parents had any congenital conditions, Ellen's identical twin sister had been diagnosed with a heart condition. Esme was born on February 7 2024 and just six hours after her birth was taken to the neonatal unit. While doctors were worried about her oxygen levels, Ellen described her daughter as "absolutely perfect". When she was two days old, Esme was sent for an X-ray. Emma Willis, 48, reveals she underwent secret surgery on her HEART after shock diagnosis But consultant paediatric radiologist Dr Rob Hawkes told the court Esme's VSD couldn't be seen on an X-ray, as the type of image it produced would only show an "enlarged" heart rather than the detail required to identify the condition. Shortly after Esme was discharged and returned home with her parents, Ellen and Esme's dad Louis Atkinson. Initially, she appeared a normal newborn, but then Ellen and Louis noticed she started to feed less. On March 6, Esme "projectile vomited across the room" after being fed. A midwife visited the following day as part of a routine visit and advised them to take her to the GP as Esme looked unusually pale and to be "better safe than sorry". The doctor looked into Esme's blood but found they hadn't been done. But Ellen revealed she was none the wiser to what was going on. On March 17, Ellen had been struggling to get her daughter to take from the bottle, and noticed something seemed off. She said: "When she was feeding I looked down and her right eyelid was twitching. I thought maybe there was something in her eye so I wiped it with some cotton wool. "About an hour or so later she had done it again. She had never done that before." After confiding in a group chat for new parents, Ellen decided to take Esme to hospital, arriving at Stepping Hill around 6:30pm. She was seen after 15 minutes, which Ellen had thought was good, until a nurse said Esme "should have been seen as soon as you came in". Esme was placed on oxygen and CPR was carried out. But despite doctors' efforts, Esme passed away on March 17 2024. The inquest continues. Ventricular septal defect (VSD) symptoms A VSD usually causes no signs or symptoms. The blood flowing through the hole can create a swishing noise. This is called a heart murmur. Doctors can hear a heart murmur when they listen to your heart with a stethoscope. In rare cases, a VSD may cause signs and symptoms in children, such as: shortness of breath, especially when exercising being very tired being underweight and growing slowly irregular or extra heart beats, called arrhythmias. Adults with a VSD may also have signs and symptoms, such as: shortness of breath, especially when exercising you may not be able to exercise for long feeling very tired irregular or extra heart beats, called arrhythmias fainting. If you have any of these symptoms, speak to your doctor.
