Tragedy of baby who died after he was found collapsed in a hospital cot
A TWO-month-old baby received fatal brain damage after being found collapsed in a hospital cot by his parents, an inquest has heard.
Muhammad Meraj Rizwan had been staying on the paediatric ward at Royal Derby Hospital in October 2018 when he was found unresponsive by his parents.
An inquest into his death at Derby Coroners’ Court last Friday heard that Muhammad had been admitted to the hospital on October 3, 2018, as his parents felt he was unwell.
On arrival he was assessed and doctors suspected he could be suffering from sepsis, leading to tests being performed and antibiotics being administered.
While this treatment was being undertaken, Muhammad’s parents went to their Normanton home to get clothes from him, but when they returned to the hospital they found him unconscious in his cot.
Mr Peter Nieto, area coroner for Derby and Derbyshire, said: “Muhammad was found to be in cardiac arrest and emergency resuscitation was performed.
“Although blood circulation returned Muhammad was unable to breathe without ventilation and by the late evening it was clear that he had sustained severe hypoxic brain injury.”
Mr Nieto said that doctors believed Muhammad would not survive as a result of this injury, and if he did then he would have been severely disabled, and discontinued active treatment.
He died with his parents alongside him in the early hours of October 4.
Mr Nieto said Royal Derby Hospital had accepted it should have “more closely monitored and observed” Muhammad.
He added that if this had been done it is possible his collapse would have been discovered earlier and as a result, resuscitation begun sooner.
However, he said he could not find his death was avoidable because “the degree of brain hypoxia Muhammad would have suffered due to the cardiac arrest cannot be estimated”.
Mr Nieto recorded a conclusion of death by natural causes, with a medical cause of death of sepsis and mitochondrial depletion syndrome - the latter of which is a genetic disease that leads to impaired energy production in some parts of the body.
University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, said it had made improvements ward “walk-arounds” since the incident, while new tools have been implemented to help the prioritisation of patients.
Cathy Winfield, executive chief nurse at the trust, said: “I’d like to express my sincere condolences to Muhammad’s family.
“His loss is a tragedy, so it is absolutely imperative that we carefully consider any lessons we can take from this inquest to help improve care for our future patients.”