A baby boy who died from complications of gastroenteritis may have lived if he had been treated in a pediatric hospital rather than a smaller suburban one, an inquest heard yesterday.Three-year-old Curtis Whitting was admitted to Manly Hospital on the morning of April 22 last year, diagnosed with gastroenteritis.
He died 48 hours later.
Police recommended an inquest after doctors' reports suggested Manly Hospital may have been able to save him.
On the first day of the hearing yesterday in Glebe Coroner's Court, the mother, Mrs Marina Whitting, wept as she said her son had cried: "My head hurts. I'm scared. I'm scared."
"I watched my son tear his hair out and say, 'I'm scared'."
Mrs Whitting said she did not remember telling the night nurse, Sister Tracie Simon, about the incident, but said the nurse had been present while her son cried in anguish.
She had been told her son had recently had Panadol and could not yet have more.
The police report before the court said Sister Simon noticed Curtis had stopped breathing and called Dr Michael Leonard at 1.40am on April 23.
Attempts had been made to resuscitate the child. He was then transferred to the New Children's Hospital. He was pronounced dead at 11.30am.
Dr Allan Cala, who conducted the post-mortem examination on the day of the boy's death, stated in his report that his treatment was one of the direct causes of death.
"Until he was virtually moribund, there was no suggestion made in the notes to transfer the child to a children's hospital for specialist care which, in hindsight, may have been more appropriate than ongoing treatment in a small, general hospital without pediatric intensive care facilities," Dr Cala said.
Dr Richard Couper, a pediatric gastroenterologist, who prepared a report for police, stated the child had died from fluid on the brain and may have been saved by "judicious administration of antibiotics".
"I suspect if he had been in a larger facility, ie the Sydney Children's Hospital or the New Children's Hospital, staff would have been more cognisant of these findings and the care may have been different with a different outcome," he said, but he had "no reason to believe that the care provided at Manly Hospital is any worse than that at any of a number of suburban hospitals with pediatric wards".
The hearing resumes in August.
