Hospital in clear over boy death

Feb 8 2008 By Jasbir Authi

DOCTORS have been cleared of any wrongdoing after a 12-year-old boy died from a mystery infection.

An inquest into the death of Haroon Bhatti, of St Pauls Road in Balsall Heath, was told how he had been checked by three doctors, nurses and ambulance staff before he died of a swollen brain at Birmingham Children's Hospital on December 15, 2006.

Dr Abraham Siebritz, who treated Haroon hours before he died, had even reassured his frantic mother Samina, that he would be "walking out of the the hospital soon".

Haroon's family had accused the hospital of gross negligence but after hearing extensive evidence, Birmingham Coroner Aiden Cotter, said he could not find any evidence of this and recorded that Haroon had died from natural causes, probably suspected bacterial septicemia.

The inquest, sitting at Sutton Town Hall, was told how Haroon, described as a normal boy, started complaining of headaches on the morning of December 11, 2006.

Haroon was taken to see his GP at Balsall Heath Clinic and remained at home taking paracetamol for the next two days.

Mrs Bhatti later took Haroon to see an out-of-hours doctor at Hockley Health Centre, after his condition failed to improve.

The doctor thought he was suffering from a minor viral infection and gave him a Stemetil injection, which is used to stop vomiting, the hearing was told.

But Haroon failed to recover and his desperately worried mother called an ambulance just before midnight on December 14, 2006.

After consulting ambulance staff, who thought he was suffering from a minor viral infection, Mrs Bhatti decided against sending him to hospital but ended up taking Haroon to Birmingham Children's Hospital in the early hours of December 15, 2006, after his condition worsened.

He was treated by Dr Siebritz who carried out blood tests. He said he thought the boy was suffering from a viral infection but tests were inconclusive.

He claimed he was aware of the boy's condition but admitted he had not been checked as frequently as he should have been.

The inquest heard that at about 8am Haroon suffered a heart attack and died.

A post-mortem examination and further investigations concluded that Haroon had suffered swelling of the brain and failed to determine what had caused it and when it had started.