Georgia Keeling dies after Meningitis is mistaken for Swine Flu
Clinical Negligence News : 10 October 2012
A two-year-old girl from Norwich died from meningitis after being wrongly diagnosed with swine flu, an inquest has heard.
Georgia Keeling died on 4th August 2009 after being rushed to hospital at the height of the swine flu pandemic. Georgia’s older sister, Charlie, had been correctly diagnosed with the disease earlier, which is believed to have contributed to the confusion.
After Georgia’s death, Paul Sewell and Natasha Keeling, her parents, revealed a number of failings which contributed to their daughters death. During an inquest in Norwich yesterday, Ms Keeling spoke out about a paramedic who had arrived at the family’s house only to send an ambulance away because it was ''another case of swine flu''.
''They gave me some Tamiflu and I was told all I had to do was get her temperature down,'' she added, admitting that she had ''felt relieved because I thought she had been diagnosed and had all the stuff she needed.''
Georgia's condition deteriorated throughout the duration of the day and she later died.
Fighting back tears, Ms Keeling said, ''I went to the toilet and she screamed out 'mum' to me. She sounded really distressed. Her eyes were glazed over and she wasn't breathing. I was trying to resuscitate her.''
Immediately, Ms Keeling called 999 and an ambulance arrived at the house at around 4pm. Georgia was rushed to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital but was pronounced dead shortly after at 4.24pm.
Results from a post-mortem revealed that Georgia died from the blood poisoning form of meningitis- septecaemia.
Mr Sewell described how he had called NHS Direct and carried out the ‘glass test’ on Georgia’s rash to see if she was suffering from meningitis. When carrying out the test, Mr Sewell said the rash seemed to disappear, although the outline remained visible.
He later revealed how the NHS Direct team had said his daughters rash was, “Probably a virus which was going around. I felt reassured it wasn't life-threatening so I went to work."
Ms Keeling told the inquest how her daughter had seemed healthy and happy until two days before her death. On the morning of the tragic day, Ms Keeling recalled Georgia waking up to ask for a cup of tea. "I noticed a rash on her legs. It looked like bruises…She was still very hot, she was quiet. She was normally quite a noisy little girl."
Ms Keeling said she initially suspected it was chicken pox but contacted a doctor after being told to do so by her mother.
Ms Keeling called West Earlham surgery but was told that there were no available appointments for two days. Instead, she was told to contact the swine flu hotline.Hotline staff told Ms Keeling that the presence of the rash meant it was unlikely to be swine flu.
Having seen no improvement in Georgia, Ms Keeling dialled 999 and the first ambulance, which was turned away by a Paramedic Patricia Perfect, arrived at about midday.
Patricia said she visited the family's home and made the swine flu diagnosis after a 45-minute examination. She ruled out meningitis because the rash disappeared when pressed.
"I went on the history of vomiting, the fact she was having pains and she also had a high temperature," Patricia added.
"Swine flu was at pandemic proportions and most clinicians at that time, if presented with those symptoms, would have come up with the same diagnosis.
"I told Georgia's mother that, if anything got worse, she should call 999.
"At that time it appeared to be a fairly routine matter. It is very difficult to diagnose meningitis."
A statement of behalf of the East of England Ambulance Service said, "The ambulance trust does recognise there have been shortcomings in this case and has apologised to the family."
It was added that action would be taken to prevent any further tragedies.