Coroner: An earlier visit to hospital could have saved Indie
‘MISSED OPPORTUNITIES’ FOR BABY
THERE were “missed opportunities” before the death of a sevenmonth old baby, a coroner has ruled.
Indie Winnie Moloney, who was born on December 1, 2020, died at the Queen’s Medical Centre on July 23 last year after being unwell for days.
Her parents took her to hospital after she had woken up screaming and pale, having been completely well and normal the day before.
They took Indie to hospital themselves instead of waiting for an ambulance but, after she had been checked over, she was sent home.
Her parents Sally Checkley, 32, and Kyle Moloney, 29, of Eastwood, then became worried after Mr Moloney returned from work and they called 111. An appointment was then set up for Indie to see an out-of-hours GP.
They were told to take her to hospital if she got a lot worse or if she did not become better by Friday, July 23.
A doctor, the last to examine Indie two days before she took a turn for the worse, worked for NEMS – which provides out-of-hours emergency services to people in Nottinghamshire, and has a walk-in patient service at the QMC.
At the time, he said his notes were that Indie was “well and alert” – a happy child who smiled.
She was not clinically dehydrated, but totally settled and fully pain-free throughout his consultation.
The inquest heard that Indie often brightened up when meeting new people, meaning her health seemingly improved when seeing medical professionals before she showed signs of illness afterwards.
On July 23, Indie began to appear more unwell and, while waiting for a clinician to ring them back, the family called an ambulance to their house in Eastwood as more than 30 minutes had passed.
Indie was described as “pale, floppy and unresponsive” and the ambulance made its way to the home on an emergency basis.
Indie went into cardiac arrest and CPR was given to her by her parents. She later died in hospital.
The inquest heard that Indie developed a relatively common condition called intussusception – only found at post-mortem examinations – in which parts of her colon had slid into each other.
It is a treatable condition and usually uncommon for a baby to die from.
Doctors suspected Indie may have had gastroenteritis, which is a lot more common, the inquest was told.
The inquest found that Indie’s parents should have been instructed to go to hospital on July 21 – not two days later – and that this could have ultimately saved her life.
Gordon Clow, assistant coroner for Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire, said: “There was a missed opportunity to save Indie.
“Had Indie been transferred to hospital on the night of July 21, 2021, it may have been that the intussusception would have been diagnosed and successfully treated.”
Indie’s death was caused by intussusception, a natural condition. She saw a GP two days prior to her death who was not himself able to diagnose intussusception and who did not refer Indie to the hospital for further investigations.
He added that her death was a “terrible tragedy” and that it’s not known for sure whether she may have survived if transferred to hospital sooner.
Katy Barnett, of Freeths Solicitors, read a statement out on behalf on the family.
She said: “The family are devastated by the loss of their beloved daughter, especially in such tragic circumstances. The coroner has confirmed today that there was a failure to refer Indie to hospital and that this may have contributed to her untimely death. But the family still have many questions which they wish to be answered.
“We can only hope now that lessons which have been learnt today throughout this inquest process can help the family in some small way throughout the process of their grief. But also ensure that such tragic events do not happen again.”