45 MINUTES TO SAVE KARIS
After six days of mounting agony this four-year-old girl was told twice by A&E docs she was constipated or dehydrated. Finally a surgeon discovered she had a ruptured appendix and poison had spread. They had just ..
A SICK child was just 45 minutes from death after she was turned away from hospital twice.
Four-year-old Karis Cochrane’s pains were dismissed as constipation. But an ultrasound finally revealed her appendix had ruptured, causing a poisoned abscess. Medics then faced a race against time to operate
on the agonised youngster, telling her parents she had to have surgery within 45 minutes.
Karis had been complaining about stomach pains for six days before she was finally admitted to hospital.
Mum Demi Bane had taken her to hospital twice but was sent away and told Karis was first constipated and then dehydrated.
When Demi rang the out-of-hours service the day after the first visit because she was showing no signs of improvement, she was advised to give the prescribed laxatives time to work.
Karis, who is due to start school after the summer holidays, was still in the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow yesterday as doctors struggle to clear her infection, which is not yet under control. She is now on her fourth course of antibiotics.
Demi, 24, said yesterday: “My wee girl could have been on the way out. When I found out what was really wrong with her I was devastated. It must have been awful for her, she was in agony.”
She added: “I just want to warn other parents to trust their gut instincts.
“If you think something is wrong with your child, keep pushing and pushing until you get answers. If I hadn’t kept on at them, Karis might not have been here.”
Karis first took ill on February 17, complaining of tummy pains and not feeling well.
Mum-of-three Demi said: “I gave her paracetamol but she had been to a party and I thought it was maybe all the junk food she had eaten.
“But the next day she had really bad stomach cramps, sickness and diarrhoea and she had a fever.
“It got worse throughout the day and she was crying really hard.”
Karis’s dad William Cochrane, 27, phoned NHS 24 and was told to take her to the out-of-hours service at Gartnavel Hospital.
They arrived there at 10.30pm and were sent to A&E at the Royal Hospital because the nurse at Gartnavel said Karis needed a scan.
Demi said: “They felt her tummy and took her temperature and then came back and told her dad that Karis was constipated. They sent her away with laxatives.”
The following day, Karis was still very poorly so Demi called out of hours again. She said: “They told me I had to give the laxatives a few days to work and to give her pain relief.”
On the Monday, Demi tried to make an appointment with her own doctor but none was available until later in the day so they advised her to take Karis back to hospital.
Demi said: “We did that. They took her temperature but they didn’t examine her tummy and said she was dehydrated. But I knew she wasn’t. They said to continue with the laxatives and painkillers.”
Two days later, Karis’s condition still had not improved so Demi took her to her GP, who told her to go to hospital for a scan and blood tests.
At the hospital, Demi told staff she would not take Karis home until they did other tests.
She said: “They were really rude to my wee girl. They were asking her where her tummy was sore and a nurse said she had told them somewhere different the last time.
She asked her, ‘Do you just like all the attention you are getting at hospital?’ I was furious. She was in excruciating pain.”
Karis was admitted to a ward but it was not until the next day that staff took blood, found an infection and sent her for an ultrasound.
Demi said: “The surgeon came in and said he was not happy and that they needed to operate within 45 minutes. He was not sure what it was but whatever was in her tummy had spread throughout her tummy.”
After an operation lasting almost two hours, the surgeon told the anxious parents Karis’s appendix had ruptured. Pus had escaped and caused a massive abscess behind her pelvis and uterus.
Demi added: “It is such a horrible sight to see your wee girl like this and she has lost so much weight. She hasn’t managed to eat in 12 days.
“They neglected my daughter by sending her away. I had to beg them and push for answers. It was disgusting.”
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: “Appendicitis in young children can be difficult to diagnose.
“Some children are not diagnosed on their first attendance and unfortunately this often involves a number of presentations for assessment, depending on how symptoms and signs develop.
“For children with abdominal pain who are not admitted, the advice always given is to return to the emergency department if things are not improving, or getting worse.
“We would be happy to meet this patient’s family and discuss any concerns they have.”