Sian Jones’ death: Inquest finds Heartlands Hospital staff negligent
Apr 25 2009 by William Oliphant, Birmingham Mail
STAFF at Heartlands Hospital were negligent when they let a 15-year-old girl die in agonising pain from peritonitis, an inquest jury ruled.
Sian Jones went into the hospital in August 2007 with abdominal pain, but failings on the part of doctors and nurses led to the condition being missed until it was too late to save her, the jury decided.
The jury said Sian, from Stirchley, died because hospital staff failed to diagnose her illness in time, and returned a verdict of neglect.
She died of multi-organ failure caused by acute peritonitis on August 13.
The jury said: “Hospital staff failed in making an obvious diagnosis of peritonitis which resulted in the death of Sian.”
The jury also highlighted various failings by hospital staff, including a failure to give Sian intravenous fluids early enough, failure to properly act on test results, poor communication between doctors and nurses, failure to understand charts and failure to chase up blood tests.
