Son’s meningitis ‘undiagnosed’ despite hospital warning poster Mother’s anger as medics sent baby home with case of ‘gastroenteritis’
A MOTHER has slammed a Midland hospital after medics failed to spot her baby had meningitis – despite a poster warning of the symptoms in the emergency department.
Rachel Collins claimed she suffered “48 hours of hell” after staff at Good Hope Hospital, in Sutton Coldfield, missed vital signs that her 11-month-old son Freddie had contracted viral meningitis, despite showing nine out of ten key symptoms.
Ms Collins, of Liberty Road in Tamworth, even spotted a poster on the ward about ‘common symptoms of meningitis’ – but said doctors had made her feel she was “overly protective”.
The 32-year-old said they had told her it was “just a gastroenteritis” and advised her simply to give Freddie paracetamol and ibuprofen – even though his temperature had soared to 39.2 degrees.
“We were fighting for his life,” Ms Collins said. “We kept telling them over and over that something wasn’t right but they didn’t believe me.”
Ms Collins first noticed Freddie’s symptoms on Wednesday, September 21, when his temperature soared and he was finding it hard to catch his breath. “He had sickness and diarrhoea and was generally not feeling very well,” the mum-of-two said.
“By midday his health had deteriorated and his temperature had risen to 39.2 degrees and we were forced to call an ambulance. It took doctors hours to see him in A&E.
“We were passed from pillar to post before we were taken up to the ward. He was even- tually seen by a nurse and his temperature was still 39.2. There was no urgency.”
Doctors said it was “probably a viral infection” and concluded Freddie was suffering with gastroenteritis – despite a poster of how to check meningitis in babies above them.
Freddie was sent home, but Ms Collins took him back to hospital the same day when he became unresponsive and developed a “blue tinge”.
Doctors still believed it was gastroenteritis, but Ms Collins refused to leave and demanded further tests.
Medics stuck to their diagnosis, leaving Freddie waiting seven hours to be seen by a triage nurse. When doctors finally got to see the baby, he was dehydrated and completely unresponsive.
Blood tests confirmed Freddie had dangerously high levels of infection in his blood – meningitis.
Freddie was rushed for an X-ray and a large amount of water found pressing against his lungs, but it is claimed medics refused to carry out a vital procedure – saying “it may not have effective results”.
After another two hours, staff from the same trust heard about the case and requested an immediate lumbar puncture and for Freddie to be conveyed to Heartlands Hospital in Birmingham.
Freddie spent 10 Heartlands before allowed home on October 3.
A spokesman for Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust said: “We are very sorry to hear that Freddie’s family were unhappy with his care. We are working with them to assure them that their concerns are being addressed.”
We kept telling them over and over that something wasn’t right but they didn’t believe me Rachel Collins
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