Why won’t the doctor see me, Mummy?
Youngster’s plea after GP refuses to see her due to lateness rule
AN asthmatic girl of five died after her GP turned her away for being late.
Dr Joanne Rowe did not check Ellie-May Clark’s notes first, an inquest heard.
It was told the child asked: “Why won’t she see me?”
A GRIEVING mum has told how her five-year-old girl died after being turned away by her GP as they were late for an emergency appointment.
An inquest heard Shanice Clark rang the surgery after Ellie-May, who has “lifethreatening” asthma, fell ill at school.
The mum said they were four minutes late, then had to wait in line to speak to the receptionist. But the clinic had a 10-minute lateness rule, and Dr Joanne Rowe told them to return the next day.
Ellie-May, who had been wheezing and unable to walk home from school, deteriorated at home and died in hospital that night.
Shanice, 26, said after yesterday’s hearing: ‘I will have to live with the fact my little girl was sent home to die by a doctor who refused to see her as we were a few minutes late.”
The inquest heard the mum had waited more than an hour before Grange Clinic, in Newport, South Wales, called her back with an appointment time.
It left her with 25 minutes to arrange childcare for her two-month-old baby and get to the surgery, a mile from their home in Malpas. The inquest heard Dr Rowe did not ask the reason for the appointment or look at medical notes.
Shanice told the inquest yesterday: “We got outside and because I was angry, I got upset. Ellie-May saw me upset she started getting upset. She said ‘Why won’t the doctor see me?’”
Dr Rowe had received a letter from a consultant saying the child was at risk of “severe/life-threatening asthma”.
The hearing in Newport was also told the receptionist did not ask about EllieMay’s condition. No advice was given on what to do if her condition worsened. Gwent senior coroner Wendy James said: “It is unacceptable that patients should be refused to be seen at an emergency appointment without any clinical assessment or any advice given.”
The inquest was told Dr Rowe could have asked another doctor to see EllieMay or seen her after her patient had left.
Asked why she had not, Dr Rowe, 54, said: “I don’t know. I was busy seeing to the other patient I had with me.”
She confirmed she would have acted differently had she seen Ellie-May’s notes or the appointment reason. Asked about the lateness rule, Dr Rowe said: “If a lot of people are 15 or 20 minutes late, you are never going to be able to manage your work.”
Ellie-May had turned blue before being taken to hospital by ambulance.
A postmortem found she died on January 26, 2015, from bronchial asthma and may have suffered a seizure due to lack of oxygen.
Mrs James said: “EllieMay Clark died from natural causes where the opportunity to provide potentially lifesaving treatment was missed.”
Recording a narrative verdict, she added it was not possible to determine if an earlier intervention would have changed the outcome. Police took no action was against Dr Rowe. The General Medical Council gave her a warning.
Shanice said: “I’m disappointed the coroner ruled out neglect. I want justice for Ellie-May and I want to make sure this doesn’t happen to another child.
“I’m glad the doctor has apologised, but I’ve waited three years for that.” Mrs James is to write a report to healthcare chiefs with concerns from the case.
If a lot of people are late, you’ll never manage your work DR JOANNE ROWE ON CLINIC’S 10-MINUTE RULE